It should be apparent from the first few moments that Kairo is “the dark one” within this set of EPs. Named in reference to Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s eternally haunting film Pulse (or Kairo, in the original Japanese), this EP presents a pretty dark and heavy vision of a horror-stalked clubland, but I maintain that these tracks are fully dance music, in the vein of industrial techno a la Surgeon/Regis, plus the darker strain of jungle championed by Source Direct and Doll Doll Doll -era Venetian Snares. I would also be remiss not to mention the influence of Planet Mu artists Milanese, Vex’d and Distance - it’s easy to forget there was a time when dubstep was vital, and could be namechecked with nary a wince or tear shed. The bass sounds on Kairo are my attempt at reclaiming what’s powerful about that most maligned synth sound, in this post-dubstep world: the wub.

The vocal samples on the title track come from the Kurosawa film, while those on Firenze are from the same Thomas Ligotti audiobook I sampled on Everything Aligned. Sam Gendel plays sax on Vigilance.

Cover art by Raphael Arar.