The past couple of years have made Forest Drive West one of the most reliably interesting names in UK techno, with records for Rupture, Echocord, Whities and Mantis all bearing his singular fingerprint. Dualism marks his return to Peverelist’s Livity Sound and it arrives as a four-track EP of startling contrasts, pairing Photek-schooled drum programming with the airy spaciousness of deep house.
The title track Dualism wears its influences openly. Its engine is a dense, rolling percussion pattern that recalls Photek’s late-nineties maximalism, snares and toms tumbling over one another in intricate fills whilst a tight four-to-the-floor kick holds the floor beneath. There’s a ruthless economy to it—nothing here is decorative, every hit earning its place—and across six and three-quarter minutes the groove tightens like a knot, shedding skin until only its sharpest elements remain.
The record’s other side is more forgiving. New Day and Ritual sink into deep-house territory, their steady kicks cushioned by spacious pads and dub-smeared chords that drift rather than push; both take their time, New Day stretching past eight minutes with the patience of a sunrise set. It’s here that the EP’s title begins to make sense, the two impulses held in careful balance. Closer Scorpion brings Melbourne percussionist Lucky Pereira into the fold, his live drumming providing an organic counterweight to the machine-tooled rhythms elsewhere, the two locked in a limber, physical groove that’s easily the record’s most immediate moment.
With Dualism, Forest Drive West has made a record that rewards close listening without ever demanding it. The drum work is the draw—precise, inventive and refreshingly unshowy—but the EP’s willingness to let its pads breathe lends it a warmth that pure techno often lacks. It’s a confident return to home turf, and one of the most absorbing releases Livity Sound has put out in recent memory.
