Symbiosis

Album Review

Beginning with a low growling bass loop, echoes in the distance, and general moodiness — what else would be good for a song called "Suspicious Drone," after all? — Symbiosis is out to play with its own set of dub-influenced signifiers in a world where Acts like Pole and Lena have long established their own serenely elegant takes on the form. If anything, Demdike Stare seem at points to be aiming at dubstep without the skittish freneticism that adds extra tension to such tracks — the sense of absence makes the impact of "Haxan Dub" and "Ghostly Hardware" quite entrancing at times, just as the pulses throughout, slower as they are, hint at something explosive yet not quite there anymore. Elsewhere, the random sci-fi sounds and clattering metallic bashes of "All Hallows Eve," a collaboration with Danny Norbury, provide a further highlight. Some numbers are perhaps a little telegraphic in their intent — thus "Janissary," with its Turkish-derived title matched by snippets of Middle Eastern orchestral arrangements sliding through the mix, is echoed a little later by the hints of swirling vocals amid the polite glitches and moods of the short "Trapped Dervish" — but still have a certain flowing appeal.