From Toronto, Canada, signed to the French electronic label M-tronic, home to such artists such as Mlada Fronta and Dither, Displacer delivers intelligent, dark melodies, full of rich soundscapes and enchanting electronics. The softer tracks remind me of Boards of Canada but let’s leave it at that, because there is so much else here. Some of the songs have strong industrial influences, others are more closely related to IDM. Its twelve great tracks and then at the end there are three really nice remixes by, among others, Gridlock just to top things off. The album starts off slow and dark with “Beta seed” and then each track goes a little further, adding more sound. This build-up continues up to the fourth track, called “Atrophied”, where everything comes into place. It is truly one of the top tracks on this release with intrinsic beats that will spellbind it’s listeners. The moon then seems to come to a full with “Wraith (l’autre mix)” that comes next and things slow down a bit after that. Then the process starts again, perhaps not quite as apparently as in the previous cycle. It also grows more aggressive, introducing more industrial elements than on the first half of the album with songs like “Bottom of the world” and “Bits & bytes”. The album rounds off nicely with “Unknown” which has elements of EBM, while still retaining the feel of the album, displaying yet another side of versatile Displacer.
This is the kind of album I can listen to from beginning to end and then listen to again, and go on to do so an entire day. Because there is so much to be found here, shades, sounds, tweaks that slips by the first time one listens to it. It’s an album to explore, as the album in itself is a creative and imaginative exploration of IDM and industrial. Let’s hope we got more releases like this one this year!