Premiere: Alican – No Such Thing [Isolate]

Following their epic V/A ‘Mutations’ EP earlier this year, Isolate return with their fifth release. Once again generous in size, once again highly explorative, once again gazing into the stars: this one goes deep… And it comes from the Istanbul-based co-founder Alican himself.

The EP eases us in gently as ‘No Such Thing’ strikes a chord that tremors right through you. Dramatic and narrative, it touches on both prog and techno with strong melodic tendencies. It’s followed by ‘Rosybar’; a track that takes us down a much deeper, more experimental path as the hook is based on the off-beat and seems fractured at first before suddenly melting together to create a vibrant breakdown.

Deeper into the EP we glide for the second half of this beautiful cosmic game as ‘Farfissa’ plays tricks on our expectations at every possible twist. At first heads-down and rolling, it suddenly switches into moments of both dark and light, keeping your dancefloor on their toes from start to finish. Finally, we hit ‘Sinflat’, the most psychedelic track of the pack. Warming up with depth and subtlety, it gradually becomes heavier and heavier in layers of pads and synths before the bassline takes a turn for darker pastures.

Four unique tracks, all taking us in a million different directions, this is how it should be: Varied, vital and full of imagination. We’re looking forward to more from Alican and Isolate.