Keeping tabs on James Leyland Kirby's musical output is nothing short of a challenge. Under his own name and with aliases like the Caretaker, the Stranger and V/Vm, Kirby has released close to 200 tracks in the past eight years alone. Luckily for the listener, Kirby tends to search for fresh inspiration with every release.
His latest release blends his ambient flirtations as the Caretaker with his recent forays into techno. Transitioning from scalpel-trimmed undertones to dull-blade bombastic beats, the four tracks that make up Breaks My Heart Each Time come off as jarring and angular as they do lovely and digestible. The muted operatic synths of the title track seemingly flow into the low-end blasts of "Last Ditch Legacy," one of the most sonically outlandish tracks in Kirby's Herculean catalogue. "Diminishing Emotion" uses washes of ambient sound before "Staring Down the Sun" closes off the twelve-inch with bouncing keyboard ramblings and thick polyrhythms. Like most of his works, Breaks My Heart Each Time is a fun ride, but gives little insight as to where Kirby will go next.
(Apollo)His latest release blends his ambient flirtations as the Caretaker with his recent forays into techno. Transitioning from scalpel-trimmed undertones to dull-blade bombastic beats, the four tracks that make up Breaks My Heart Each Time come off as jarring and angular as they do lovely and digestible. The muted operatic synths of the title track seemingly flow into the low-end blasts of "Last Ditch Legacy," one of the most sonically outlandish tracks in Kirby's Herculean catalogue. "Diminishing Emotion" uses washes of ambient sound before "Staring Down the Sun" closes off the twelve-inch with bouncing keyboard ramblings and thick polyrhythms. Like most of his works, Breaks My Heart Each Time is a fun ride, but gives little insight as to where Kirby will go next.