(Cass, Album) Label:1080pCat#: 1080P36 2015 Vancouver studio heads Neu Balance breathe deep on Pacific Northwestern air and exhale a debut of meticulously dazed hybrid house and ambient electronica, synthetic and playful with a twisted holisticism. “Rubber Sole” drifts in and out of a borealic yet lush minimalism and over to a jumped-up maximalism that is also present in their live shows. It also blurs from a sort of pre-apocalyptic and overtly filtered, processed and generally heavy synth layers and partially dismantled beats into a bright naturalism/pastoralia. Comprised of Sam Beatch (of Plays:four) and Sebastian Davidson, the interplay at work is explorative and often wonky, working through a handful of revised hauntological ideals like subtle field recordings, pitched down (and up) vocal snippets, disembodied gear bleeps and dream-drived keyboard melodies that never stick around for long that all leads towards a clean, intricate psychedelia.
