Two years after releasing the acclaimed Crash Recoil, Anthony Child aka Surgeon returns to Tresor with new LP, Shell~Wave. Retaining the minimal equipment list and studio-version-of-live-show-sets approach of the previous album in order to focus on the work itself, Shell~Wave is a deeply personal document of both where Surgeon is and has been, converging three decades of experience with a continued curiosity in the untested.“To make this project, I had to dig really deep in terms of what my relationship was to techno; I’ve been involved with it for a really long time and there’s a lot about it I feel dislocated from, so I had to really think hard about what techno is to me. I o[en get asked “what is techno to you?” but I can’t answer that with words; this album is the answer.” From the complex, twisting track Infinite Eye to the caustic Soul Fire, the eight tracks that make up the body of the album are single-take explorations of the vast, hard yet minimal techno Child is synonymous with.Neatly dividing the record in two, the emotional centre of the record comes in the form of Dying, a vibrating, beatless piece that with a mantra-like vocal loop steeped in reverberating effects. Further echoes of dub production appear throughout the record as tracks like Divine Shadow, and Empty Cloud have an almost ever-present mist of reverberation, driven by the appearance of a new delay unit in the equipment list; while much of the philosophy of Crash Recoil’s creation is present, the process and the instruments have changed as Child again switches up his approach to studio work.This insistence on trying novel techniques doesn’t preclude returning to old ones, as this use of modern digital machines with live, hands-on takes that are as inspired by 60s producer Joe Meek and 70s reggae as they are by this year’s synthesiser expos. “For me, it’s an interesting experience returning to old techniques again a[er 30 years. [I’m] always exploring and finding myself back at the beginning. Connecting the present with the past.”This philosophy of ‘time travel’ is inherent to the music itself as the synchronised loops repeat while the delay and effects branch out, forming unique eddies; disanct quantum moments within the circular whole; the future leaking through the spaces between the sounds. All of the concepts on the album are perfectly communicated through the painting by Taiwanese arast Jazz Szu-Ying Chen which suggests the movement of water, sound waves, and the chitinous shells of sea creatures. Your browser does not support HTML5 audio. Large toggle button 00:00 / 00:00 Previous track button Next track button Small toggle button A1. Serpent Void Small toggle button A2. Soul Fire Small toggle button B1. Divine Shadow Small toggle button B2. Forgoten Gods Small toggle button B3. Dying Small toggle button C1. Infinite Eye Small toggle button C2. Triple Threat Small toggle button D1. Empty Cloud Small toggle button D2. Fall Expected: May 2025Cat: TRESOR373
