8: Barker: Stochastic Drift
I loved Barker’s previous record ‘Utility’ so much - a version of techno, shorn of its low end so thoroughly it felt weightless - to the point where I found myself baffled that Barker wasn’t being discussed a whole load more. I found it to be a truly revolutionary record, one that took something timeworn and made it feel so viscerally, emotionally new. All of that meant I approached the release of a follow up with a little trepidation. But I needn’t have, because ’Stochastic Drift’ is a great, great record. Whilst the pallet is mostly the same as it’s predecessor this is no retread of old ground; instead we get plenty of low-end here - most noticeably in the closing stretch as ‘Fluid Mechanics’ goes robo-jazz and the title track rides a drum track so propulsive that even though it feels man-made, surely it’s a physical impossibility. This is clearly heavily composed music, poured over, sculpted. And yet there isn’t a second of it that feels less than totally organic, as a natural as air.
