Boxcutter has always made interesting music at fast speeds. His previous explorations of kaleidoscopic dubstep reached their perfected form on the forward-thinking Planet Mu label.
Gnosis is a necessary diversion. Though the juke influences have quickened the tempos, the EP's relentless and undulating staccato actually brings Boxcutter's sound into a more coherent framework. The music is still frenetic, but Gnosis gains its energy from speed rather than the powerful breadth of his previous work.
The results are somewhat mixed. On one hand, Boxcutter's rhythms are silky smooth, as they flit between sub-bass and mid-range hits, creating an exhilarating backbone to the EP. On the other hand, the exaggerated saccharine synth wizardry that floats to the top of many of the tracks only hints at the genius of his earlier work. Gnosis takes Boxcutter's work to new heights of rhythmic intricacy, but much of the shimmering synth work that peppers the spine of the EP seems somewhat superfluous.
(Cosmic Bridge)Gnosis is a necessary diversion. Though the juke influences have quickened the tempos, the EP's relentless and undulating staccato actually brings Boxcutter's sound into a more coherent framework. The music is still frenetic, but Gnosis gains its energy from speed rather than the powerful breadth of his previous work.
The results are somewhat mixed. On one hand, Boxcutter's rhythms are silky smooth, as they flit between sub-bass and mid-range hits, creating an exhilarating backbone to the EP. On the other hand, the exaggerated saccharine synth wizardry that floats to the top of many of the tracks only hints at the genius of his earlier work. Gnosis takes Boxcutter's work to new heights of rhythmic intricacy, but much of the shimmering synth work that peppers the spine of the EP seems somewhat superfluous.
