ANNE – Skydivers EP

The term "forward-thinking" is all to readily bandied about like putty, but Thessaloniki producer Anne invites proper usage of the term with the 'Skydivers' EP, where techno paratroops like an eight-track task force gone rogue, abandoning backup chutes or safety protocols for a freefalling leap of faith. Serious productions bring suction, impact and shear force, from the humphing heave 'The Freeway At Dawn' to the girdering grunts of 'Hypersis'. Only by the C-side do we reach any reprieve; a wrecking ball is taken to the prison walls of prior grimness on 'Thinkers', as fairylike waves of watery synth merge through occasional highpassed in-breaths. 'Nekyia' is similarly sylph-tastic, but immediacy is not lost: classic 303 claps can always be heard, even through the track's rushes of seventh-heaven, cloud nine sound design.