Preserving – Syncrophone 46

Fresh from delivering a fine album of drone and ambient excursions on his own Private Society imprint – the inspired Message To The Universe – Fred Peterkin returns to the dancefloor via a surprise outing on Synchrophone. As usual, what’s on offer brilliantly blends deep house rhythms and textures with the kind of more spacey and dubbed-out elements more often heard in Detroit techno and hypnotic tech-house. A-side ‘The Sound Exchange’ is particularly potent, with Peterkin wrapping a typically tough-but-tactile groove in ghostly chords, hand percussion hits and echoing synth riffs. Over on side B, ‘The Sonic Tour’ is a brighter and more colourful riff on a similar sonic blueprint – albeit with deeper, heavier sub-bass and sustained synth strings – while ‘The Kingdom’ pairs a thickset groove with sweeping strings and twinkling pianos.