Off-Axis is a long and crumbling road, snaking through the sacrificed zones of the American midwest. A tour of rust and decay that requires heart and humility to see it through to the end. The album is the product of producer Precenphix's studio ingenuity, combining dark techno with industrial post-punk in a manner that is both modern and distinctly nostalgic. Off-Axis lends itself to contemplation without being weighed down conceptually. In lieu of overthinking the structure of his tracks, the Harrisburg, PA musician prizes groove and rhythm over stakeless intellectualization. He puts his skills on the line to make music that you can dance to despite its abundance of heavy, stolid elements. It's like he's trying to force you to move, to stretch your muscles, tear them and repair them as fast as you can so that you will be strong for the fights and enduring struggles that will define your life and the lives of those you care for. Wet and dribbling electronics spit and shudder on "Scutellaria Lateriflora" feeling like a mangy dog shaking itself dry after a rain, while tracks like "The Open Cabinet" are imbued with a conspiring intrigue leading from their tip-toeing pianos and ominous overhanging synths, conveying a sense of boiling dread that should be familiar to any city dwelling denizens who is still unnerved by the watchful eyes of CCTV cameras that dot the urban landscape as the passive inspectors of an omniscient security state. The heralding choir opening of "Kavalactones" has a rapturous rise to it which is intersected by milky electronic echos and sounds of mechanical compression, confluences that lend themselves to concerning conclusions about the status of humanity's actual sources of faith in the 21st Century- truly, is there still some knowable higher power, or has it been reduced to the radiant mask of a computer interface? "Triptan" is held together by blinking florescent patterns and the arduous whipping scrape of metallic rotations, capturing all the horrible tension of sitting alone in a police interrogation room under a squeaky fan, awaiting questioning for a crime you couldn't have possibly committed. It is followed by "In the Courtyard" which answers the previous track by setting you free through a series of linked, swiveling grooves and silvery Eastern inspired synth-lines that shatter the locks on the doors and dismantle the walls of your cell, brick by brick, and bar by bar. Take the next left turn onto Off-Axis and let Precenphix give you a guided tour of the possibilities and perils of the modern age.
Available on Not Yet Remembered Records.