Demob Happy

Shock waves

7/10

Minotaur Shock’s second full-length will surely raise his reputation to the level of some of his more overrated peers, namely Four Tet and Manitoba, both of whom seem to have been unjustly hogging the electronica limelight for the last couple of years. ‘Maritime’ take a naval theme as its core imagery but despite a few moments of kitsch and whimsy, is not overwealmingly gimmicky. Rather, it is an album of textures and incricate melodies, drawn out of an pallette of electro-style synths and some live instrumentation.

Sometimes Maritime gets too cute, but the layering of ideas is always precise and colourful. ‘Museli’ opens with a little repeated horn-like synth line that resembles some Philip Glass, another influence that pops up throughout the album. ‘(She’s In) Dry Dock Now’ comes off like Prefuse 73 remixing Vangelis, with a cut and paste r’n'b rhythm overlayed with unashamebly melodic synths. ‘Vigo Bay’ opens hard and fast with nautical flutes, like Krautrock played by demented fisherman, while ‘Hilly’ is heartfelt microdot funk in the vein of Two Lone Swordsmen. Things are quieter on the second half of the album, and take more patience, but almost all the tracks evolve into something quite subtly special. In a genre of music that is often overearnest and esoteric, this is highly accessible but no less complex.