Actress
R.I.P.

THE REVIEW

Two years have passed since “Splazsh” and, as with the previous release, it seems that London-based producer Darren Cunningham (aka Actress) finds this to be the perfect interval of time to present the audience with a new work. The entire hour of listening is an explosion of genres that, despite everything, never becomes dispersive but is instead guided by a specific leitmotif coinciding with the continuous search for alternative paths. The introduction is entrusted to a ping-pong effect that masterfully ushers us into the atmospheres that follow track after track.

It is truly difficult to summarize the list of influences and genres that traverse the 15 tracks: the initial “R.I.P.” and “Ascending” seem to pay homage to much Eno's ambient before standing against the waterfall of pixels of “Holy Water”, “Marble Plexus”, and “Raven” rest on muffled soundscapes in full lo-fi style, the dancefloor beats progress in “The Lord’s Graffiti”. The presence of moments at the edge of glitch (“Jardin”) which create a bridge between this work and that of 2010 cannot be omitted either. The only moment Actress uses a filtered voice is found in the sublime “Caves of Paradise”: a bass line intertwined with a series of loops that are at least claustrophobic, just to give you the idea. After a series of more “intense” tracks, we are laid on the more relaxed flow of “N.E.W.” (which almost seems to want to give the proper close to the entire album). It is precisely here that Cunningham takes us by surprise. From the relaxed atmosphere of “N.E.W.” emerges “IWAAD”: a track with a pounding straight bass drum that would not be out of place in the previous albums. Finding a real flaw in this masterful work would be nothing but a pure sin of envy.