Bee Mask

Limited Vinyl Edition - 500 copies only* Having been reasonably quiet on the release front - by his standards - since last year's 'Elegy For Beach Friday' collection on Spectrum Spools, Chris Madak aka Bee Mask turns up on Lawrence English's Room40 imprint with a fine new edition that finds him testing out a new framework for his approach to electronic composition - one that has, we're pleased to report, really enriched and developed his sound. With the help of vocal loops recorded by Autre Ne Veut and Katherine Brady, Madak has crafted two long pieces that reference kosmische and new age synth tropes without being beholden to them. On 'Vaporware', Reichian chimes and xylophone hits interweave with a worming, arpeggiated synth line to truly magickal effect, but for us it's 'Scanops' that impresses most, with Brady's vocals hanging across a bed of spurting, curdling, visceral electronics - think Laurie Anderson re-routed through the GRM and David Bedford's Star's Ends. A really consuming record this, one that rewards repeat listens, and further proof that Bee Mask is an artist well worth keeping tabs on.