Xela

The four years since Type label boss John Twells initially released his debut full-length have been intriguing for the electronic music world. A slow dissolving of checkmark genres has left behind an aesthetic that’s difficult to summarise. Having moved even further away from the dance floor, new electronic works are often held together by the poetry of tone. Frosty Mornings sits comfortably alongside up-to-the-moment releases, contrasting with last year’s more individual, dense and, frankly, menacing The Dead Sea. It also hints at Twells’s points of entrance through the digital looking glass. "Japanese Whispers” has a slightly retro sound that shivers between snail’s pace trance and a hip-hop backbeat. "The Long Walk Home at Midnight” also threads together Mille Plateaux/Raster-Noton clicks and pops with a cool after-after-hours jazziness. The reissue also complements Type’s growing catalogue of releases that highlight individual visions over collective solidarity. Twells is a fine label boss to lead by setting the example of "no example necessary.”