Lone Abraxas

Abraxas is the first release on Lone's new Ancient Astronauts imprint, and marks his first experiment with acid. It combines classic 303 sounds with rolling breakbeats, influenced by listening to nineties drum'n'bass records at slower speeds. Both 'Abraxas' and 'Young Star Cluster' begin in a tool-like percussive fashion, with snare-heavy breaks chopped and varied just enough to keep interest yet not so much as to destroy their respective grooves. They're augmented with heavy kicks, glitching hi-hats and clattering hand percussion.

It's like stepping out of a dark club and realising it's morning

Twice on the title track 'Abraxas' the song opens up, the beat mostly drops out, and we're left with Lone's signature glistening pads. It's like stepping out of a dark club and realising it's morning. The beat then returns even busier than before and we're treated to our first taste of squelching bass. 'Young Star Cluster' features heavier use of the 303 bass and additional vocals, before repeating the same trick as 'Abraxas' and dropping the drums for more pads.

Last track 'How Can You Tell' is incredibly strong and the dreamiest of the bunch, opening with angelic choral sounds, flutes and windchimes, while psychedelic waterfall-like synths gurgle behind. When the break is introduced it's more heavily filtered then the previous tracks and is obviously less dancefloor focused than what went before. That being said, the moment just after the vocalist enigmatically states, "The universe is sending you a message from the past to the present and future," and the acid line comes in could be the highlight of a DJ's set.

Jack Buckley