'Believing that anything other than the music doing the talking is detracting from its purity, the elusive AWOL's ideology shines through with the delivery of these heavy hitting Techno bombs'

AWOL or awol (ā′wôl′)

adj.

Absent without leave.

n.

One who is absent without leave.

As the summer draws to an end and we are slowly but surely immersed by the cold the mysterious yet conceptual 'AWOL' emerges out of the darkness with 3 timeless techno tracks. The provocative name ‘AWOL’ accounts for both the artist and label name, a platform created to release an anonymous series of hand stamped records via Lobster Distribution. Alongside a sinister conceptual name the track titles continue the enigma with them not to be mistaken for numbers, dots and dashes yet a series of co ordinates; chase the code, find the gold. 

The three tracks share a similar relation in sound yet cater for both the club and the after party showing a comprehensive understanding in techno rave culture. The EP’s opening cut ’55.014393, -1.402942’ is a homage to 90’s rave that still maintains an essence of the now. The drums start the track off with the heavy grit of the kick punching through the crispy singing hats, which are tied together by a pop shot snare that we hear consistently throughout the EP. The synth lines are very minimal but there arrangement and intensity in the breaks make them very playful and up lifting.  

B1. Sees AWOL drop into a spaced-out after hour’s mode: its stripped backed approach gives emphasises to the lead that’s able to soothingly captivate with its atmospheric manner. It still packs plenty drive no thanks to the drums but doesn’t quite share the same energy as the other two cuts. The final track brings us back to the dance floor, a classic off beat open high hat, double time swinging percussion and a punchy rolling kick pattern reminiscent again of 90’s warehouse sounds. However, as the track progresses the deep hypnotising synth work give the cut dubby textures making it an interesting blend of the old and the new.

A very promising debut EP, 002 to be released in the coming months. 

Artwork by Bookless from Jaunt Records.