“It’ll come with time” is the mantra usually relayed onto young ones delving into sonic exploration early on, but Sheffield’s Stew Green, alter-ego Carnivals, is deviant. Unsettling, icy and promethean, his latest double A-side single ostensibly has it all already. Taking quantum time leaps from Eno-esque ambience to a glitchy smorgasbord of disparate sounds suggestive of Blondes or Oneohtrix Point Never, the hazy, lazy fuzz of 'Absences' is the best wodge of electronic wonk I’ve heard in some time. Its warped hollers, its piano dribbles, its emphatic chill... What wonder.
In a world chock-a-block with brash, maximalist producers like Rustie and Hudson Mohawke, this release provides welcome respite. Indeed, 'Ino (Parts 1 & 2)', the other track, is just as enthralling in its buoyant guitar riffage, spliced samples, trip-hoppy beats and all-round glitch. It’s all doleful, lugubrious and claustrophobic but totally, uniquely mesmerising. Green dropped an EP early last year, which, along with said tunes, is available as a free download on his bandcamp. Deal. All that’s left to say - join the carnival.
Originally published here.
