Paul Rose is one of the last remaining purists in a genre was once known as dubstep. As many of his contemporaries (SBTRKT, Rustie) have moved on to poppier territories, adding big name vocalists to the mix, Rose (a.k.a. Scuba) has moved inward, allowing his music to come off even more sonically complex and muted. On the aptly titled Claustrophobia, his fourth full-length, the British musician has grafted together previous sound experiments to create his most uniform and listenable album yet.
Although Claustrophobia's ten tracks run over 50 minutes and feature some of his most brooding and chilly synth sounds to date, much of the album comes off surprisingly digestible and light, thanks to Scuba's expert ability to keep rhythms elastic and diversified. Written in just four hours while in the mountains of Japan, Claustrophobia is complex yet buoyant, as tracks like "All I Think About is Death" and "Needle Phobia" reflect the heavily textured, multi-coloured universe Scuba likes to dwell in. On Claustrophobia, Scuba has created an engrossing long-player that's surprisingly more mode-y than moody.
(Hot Flush)Although Claustrophobia's ten tracks run over 50 minutes and feature some of his most brooding and chilly synth sounds to date, much of the album comes off surprisingly digestible and light, thanks to Scuba's expert ability to keep rhythms elastic and diversified. Written in just four hours while in the mountains of Japan, Claustrophobia is complex yet buoyant, as tracks like "All I Think About is Death" and "Needle Phobia" reflect the heavily textured, multi-coloured universe Scuba likes to dwell in. On Claustrophobia, Scuba has created an engrossing long-player that's surprisingly more mode-y than moody.
