Pale Sketcher

Fast on the heels of Jesu: Pale Sketches Demixed, last fall's debut album as Pale Sketcher, Justin Broadrick returns with a five-track EP that already sees the alias mutating significantly in unexpected directions. Demixed had a starry-eyed '80s haze to its languid unfolding and certainly ranked up there amongst the most tranquil outings in Broadrick's huge discography. Seventh Heaven's title track is more eager to combine the frenetic skipping of the Field with bass music's rumbling end. That rumble, in a sense, has been part of Broadrick's menacing outlook ever since his late '90s affair with jungle, terrain he shared with the Bug's Kevin Martin in Techno Animal. Martin makes an appearance here on the King Midas Sound remix of "Wash It All Away," one of the most haunting and industrial-strength takes on this impressive EP. With "Resonanz Therapie Musik" employing dub techno beats and "Drag Your Feet" even hiccupping a bit of a country twang, wrapped in gliding shoegazing, this EP states that Pale Sketcher is ready and willing to go anywhere.