- Samuel Kerridge's first release since the excellent A Fallen Empire LP offers few surprises but does build on the doom-laden techno framework he's established since his 2012 debut for Downwards. Amusingly po-faced track titles notwithstanding (Juno Plus pithily said they sound spat out by "a Downwards title generator"), Deficit Of Wonder is unrelentingly bleak.
Thick with distortion and opening with bolder kick drums than usual, "Operation Neptune" sets the atmosphere for the rest of the EP. Weighty, punishing synth lines descend before they disappear with the kicks into malevolent froth, only to re-emerge twice as eerie as before. Elements sound as if they've been left outside to rust, from the pileup of degraded synths on "Paint It Black" to the half-intelligible vocals buried beneath layers of murk on the deeply ominous "Surrender To The Void." Where A Fallen Empire occasionally suffered from being too similar throughout (an impression the traumatising closing track admittedly did much to dispel) Kerridge suits the EP format beautifully, and the tracks here are among his strongest yet.
TracklistA1 Operation Neptune
A2 Surrender To The Void
B1 Paint It Black
B2 Paint It Black (Reprise)