A decade since his first productions as part of Pendle Coven, Miles Whittaker delivers his debut album proper for Modern Love. The intervening time has seen him forge a formidable reputation alongside Sean Canty as Demdike Stare, and with Andy Stott as Millie & Andrea, beside his operations in the hardware field as Suum Cuique, solo excursions as MLZ and shadowy involvement in the HATE project - all the while building upon his in-demand skills as a DJ of twenty odd years experience, accumulating and absorbing far flung knowledge of hardcore UK jungle, Chicago house, Motor City Soul, the obscure UK techno of labels like Radioactive Lamb and Irdial, Italian concrète, Synthwave and contemporary noise. Which brings us to 'Faint Hearted', the Burnley-bred, Berlin-based maestro's debut solo opus; eight entirely analogue constructions riding the wave from wormhole hardcore clatter ('Lebensform') to body-compressing subbass undulations ('Irreligious'), trekking through frayed techno minimalism ('Status Narcissism') to mind-drift ambient ('Sense Data') and what sounds like a Demdike Stare track constructed on a worksite ('Rejoice'). But if you ask us, the best bits occur right at the end, with the ominous bass, funereal strings and obliterated noise of 'Archaic Thought Pattern 1' or the field recording clangour of 'Queuing', and certainly the majestically gratifying yet subtly dystopian 9 minute closer 'Loran Dreams'. As an individual sonic statement, it's an evocative exposition of Miles’ love of electronic music in all its shapes, harnessing his fidgety production style into one expansive, restless set of tracks.

Miles - Faint Hearted

Lebensform

Irreligious

Status Narcissism

Miles - Faint Hearted

modernlove