DS018

Cassette & Digital

decayingspheres.bandcamp.com/album/rest-assured

An inconsolable atmosphere unfurls slowly through synth-led excursions, gradually drenched as they lurk under a bruised sky.

Rest Assured signals the return of one of the UK’s most impressive electronic artists to Decaying Spheres, with the Sangam’s second release on the label.

The artist deftly unveils a shadowy world like many times before, showcasing familiar murky soundscapes riddled with euphoric echoes and a penchant towards forlorn melodies. Perfectly combining a shivering, emotionally-charged nucleus with a feeling of postmodern indifference, Sangam presents a clearer glimpse into a cold dystopia than ever before.

An amnesiac quality flows through the release as phrases repeat, with only the steady rain to push things forward. Predicted Scape presents a moment of catharsis encased within rain-speckled amber as music lures out pained, pitched-up vocal flourishes, the voice trembling in the rain, further cementing Sangam’s knowledge of and contribution to the post-dubstep UK sound. Bottled Up provides something amounting to equanimity, as a more self-assured – yet still uncertain – pad makes its home in the downpour, warming itself with melodic affirmations.

Rest Assured also invites listeners to appreciate Sangam’s compositional skills from a more classical perspective. Tracks like Distant Embers push out from the darkness with gothic strings providing a bedrock of melancholy, deep spiritual undulations pushing up from somewhere beneath the wet concrete. Look Up communicates an almost cosmic feeling of acceptance as strings and pads overflow joyously from the heavens above, stretching out like an elongated final note at a rewarding conclusion to all things.

Decaying Spheres present listeners, not only with another incredible Sangam release, but one that provides a bold and unwavering realisation of this artist’s place in the pantheon of UK electronic artists.