Australian group
Tangents have continually tightened their approach to rhythmic improvisation, with each successive release sounding more natural without fitting into any categories or conventions.
Timeslips & Chimeras is a double album that displays the group's gift for spontaneous creation as well as their post-production studio creativity. Originally released digitally in 2020, the first half, Timeslips, was mainly recorded in a single day, and is more closely based on improvisations. The individual tracks seem too focused to be excerpts cut from an endless jam session, but there's nothing rigid about them, and they flow in unpredictable ways. "Vessel" is an early standout, with a shimmering Rhodes melody recurring like a flash of a poignant memory, and Nick Calligeros' distant trumpet playing lighting up the night sky in the background. "Old Organs" is a prime example of how
Tangents dissolve boundaries between synthetic and organic instrumentation, with intricate, raindrop-like beat patterns similar to the grey-area drum'n'bass of producers like
ASC and Sam KDC, later joined by propulsive live drumming. "Debris" is slower and uneasier, with much heavier layers of guitar noise recalling
Mogwai at their most imposing, pushing into full force by the track's end. While Timeslips is already quite technology-forward, second part Chimeras is more deconstructive, with more post-production effects and overdubs. Tracks like "Lilliputian" and "Timeslip" are murkier and less stable than some of the band's other pieces, and "Lost Track" has more broken electronic beats while maintaining a jazzy sophistication. "Chimera" is more of a tense ambient study in which a stately drum beat and solemn violin and piano eventually emerge. The double album compellingly demonstrates how
Tangents create their own distinctive musical language, then rewrite it as they go along. ~ Paul Simpson