Liza Aikin – Infirm Past [Obscuur Records]

Obscuur Records released last March Withered Tales, an album that compiled 10 tracks from 10 different artists. Among them was a cut by Liza Aikin, an artist who returns to the Dutch label but this time as a solo artist, with an EP of two original tracks and two great remixes.

Infirm Past is a release with a hard sound, with a lot of strength and energy, and with a style that we can catalogue as industrial techno, but with diverse structures. Each track can be placed in a different sound field. First up is “Hospital Bed”, club ready and on the harder end of the scale, it delivers increasingly frustrating emotions through percussion packed with field recordings literally from the mechanisms within hospital machines. Swarm Intelligence adds the remix favour, with a growling bassline and broken techno cuts. “Emmaus” follows up, with a sophisticated palette of layered pounding rhythms. Glued together with a hypnotically morphing melody, VSK steps up to the plate for the remix, plastering his well-known sound all over and slowing the drums to achieve a pure meditative hallucination.

Liza Aikin consistently strives to push her sound in new directions, the known mixing with the unknown, making this EP a rewarding listening experience both at the club and at home.

Release date: October 31st, 2020.