Yesterday, I read a really lovely review of All Roads Lead to Polesworth from Cassette Gods. Here it is in its entirety:
Enofa’s a decidedly and wonderfully British electronic artist that goes by the name Ross Baker when they do their taxes each year. I don’t latch onto the Britishness of this just because “Polesworth” is in the title or because it was released on Brighton stalwart Third Kind, there’s just a sense that this hi-NRG electronic pulsefest is a total throwback to 90s raver culture, the energetic rhythms and effortless melodies perfect for that retrofuturist dancefloor. I’ve gotta say, too, that I’m a sucker for what Baker’s slinging here – I can pop this on and relax to it all day, proving that you don’t need to stand up and wiggle to thoroughly enjoy it. And trust me – I’m an expert at sitting down these days.
Baker has appeared on Third Kind before with Seltrac as International Debris, another incredible release, and if we’re going to start getting regular releases from them like this, we should probably mark our calendars for when those releases are going to happen. It’s not easy to put together such a streamlined body of work as All Roads, but Baker weaves in and out of cuts like they’re assembling an expert mixtape, the more fervent tunes residing with equal comfort and natural placement next to chillaxed comedowns. So yeah, a regular schedule here would be nice. But even if we have to place All Roads in a vacuum and ingest it without context, we’re still taking in sixty minutes of the dance equivalent of high-speed future transportation, frictionless and smooth, efficient and beautiful. And winding up at Polesworth, if you can believe it.
You can also read it by clicking here. This is the third positive review Ryan’s given my music over the years, so much love to him for such kind words. 🙂
I also received my copy of The Future Sound of London’s Music for Calendars compilation, on which I am credited for “data input,” which is FSOL speak for helping pick the tracklist. So that’s exciting. My Apertures project with Brian is similarly coming along well, we might even have a mini-album out later this year.
Had my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine a couple of weeks ago, so while we’re a long way from a complete return to normality, I do at least feel a little closer to being able to return to something resembling pre-2020 life. I’ve been spending a lot less time online this past week or so and my mood has gone up accordingly, which is something I’m going to be continuing in the future. Remember when you could go about your daily life without having to worry about social media and what everybody else was up to and saying at that exact moment? And when you didn’t have to avidly avoid some of your favourite musicians because they’re posting conspiracy bullshit all the time? So yeah, less internet is doing me the world of good.
The follow-up to All Roads Lead to Polesworth is complete and is called Bone Moor. It won’t be out yet but I’ll keep everyone updated on that as and when the news is ready. You can hear a couple of tracks from it and get an idea of the general tone on the latest mix I’ve made for Bricolage, Discarded Analogue Simulations. It contains the following tracks:
Blackhill Transmitter – Obtainable
Luigi Turra & Christopher McFall – tactile.surface
Eivind Aarset – Jukai (Sea of Trees)
Pan Sonic – Maa
Barre Phillips – Mountainscape I
Elegi – Arvesolv
Enofa – Within Sensory Machinery
Current 93 – The Moons at Your Door
Synthi A – Surrounding the Garden is a Fog
Orbital – The Box [Untitled Version 2]
The Cure – The Final Sound
Roddy Woomble – Everyday Sun
Cremation Lily – Immaculacy
Brast Burn – Debon
Second Thought – Village
Krzysztov Orluk – Ozone
36 – Nova
Goldmund – Apalachee
Heads of Agreement – Earth Magnetic
Off Land – Parallels
Nurse With Wound – Nihil
Pietro Riparbelli – Second Day
Nicholas Langley – Golden Hats
Tarkovsky Quartet – Rêve II
Valiska – Lost
Michele Rabbia / Gianluca Petrella / Eivind Aarset – Nimbus
Origamibiro – Armistice Telegraph
The Future Sound of London – Rainy Third St.
Jack Anderton – Gully
Enofa – Receiving Signals
Tangerine Dream – Flute Organ Piece
Steven Hess & Christopher McFall – The Inescapable Fox I
Part-Sub-Merged – Cark
John Surman – Bedruthan Steps
Second Thought – Aqueduct
Ancient Brickwork and Underwater Infrastructure, the two forthcoming albums I mentioned in my last entry, are very much not happening now. Elements of them have been reworked for Bone Moor, but the rest has been scrapped. I realised how easy it is to put out albums that are quite good, only for me to then listen back a couple of years later and disown them because they aren’t up there with my best work. I should strive to make everything as good as possible, and if I don’t genuinely believe that a track is up there with my best work then it shouldn’t be released.
I think one of the issues I’ve had with a lot of this material, and indeed much of my music in the past five years, is the use of computers. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to work on music at my computer without at least some dissatisfaction – it very frequently causing my mood to drop dramatically – and I should probably learn from that. Annoyingly, I currently have no space to set up my all my hardware. So I have some vague plans for the next album but no way to actually work on them. Which means 2021 will probably just be a one-album year.
That said, there’s a new Winter of the World tape in the works, which should be out fairly soon. It’s called Fluvial Lake and will be out on New Motion. Four tracks of textural ambient.
Lately I’ve been listening to Sigrid, Taylor Swift’s two 2020 albums, FSOL, Tangerine Dream and a lot of Guided by Voices. I hope everybody is safe and well! x
enofa 