The follow-up to
Quicksails' 2016 LP, Mortal, features some of the project's most rhythmic ventures yet, adding somewhat of a fractured industrial pulse to the messy, playful ebb and flow of Ben Billington's synthesizers. It never feels dark or nihilistic, though, and even its most abrasive moments are tempered by delicate textures or twinkling melodies. The title track mixes bright, bubbling synths with smudged, stretched voices and gentle hand drums, all of which float atop gentle, ethereal jazz chords that keep everything from being disorienting. "My Moon" largely steps away from electronics, focusing on contemplative pianos and brushed drums, resulting in one of the jazziest meditations
Quicksails has released. "Purge" is far more chaotic, beginning with an arrhythmic jitter and gradually becoming more manic and infested with miniscule, rainbow-colored lightning bugs. The remixes at the end of the album magnify the fun, hallucinatory qualities of the music, particularly the ultra-bizarre mix by Khaki Blazer, which feels like someone hijacked an amusement park ride and tried to set it up in their backyard but didn't quite reassemble all the parts correctly. The cassette edition of the album ends with a vaporwave mix by MindSpring Memories (aka
Fire-Toolz) that strips "Flinch" of its prickly static and slows down the glistening synth pads, eventually adding a wavy, half-dissolved sax solo. ~ Paul Simpson