- Border Community appear to have gained a new sense of purpose over the past year, with label boss James Holden resolving to shed the last vestiges of "emo schmaltz trance bullshit" and work with a "focussed down" roster of just three artists (aside from Holden himself). Of these, Nathan Fake and Luke Abbott are well known, but Welshman Wesley Matsell, who begins BC's 2014 with Total Order Of Being, is a relatively low-key figure. This is his third release, and his second for Holden's label following the 2008 kosmische delicacy Bernwerk. Since that release he has, through an outing on Studio Barnhus, acquired a taste for robust early '90s techno. This EP features some of his most dance floor-ready material yet.
The title track has the delicate raindrop arps Matsell is known for, but they're housed in a newly concise framework. The results are bright, swung and pleasingly exuberant, and would doubtless be a breath of fresh air on a sweaty dance floor. "Dowlais Wheelie Crew" is similarly forthright, but the whole thing feels slightly workaday. "Rite Of Pant" is a darker slow-burner, carefully unfurling over nine minutes. The meditative sweep of it is pleasing enough, but it veers dangerously close to being uneventful at points. "Future Beacon" finds Matsell on the strongest ground—its gently expansive arp work, accelerating into chaotic squiggles in the latter half, make it more understated and more compelling than its companions. Compared to Holden's The Inheritors, Matsell appears to have more of an eye on Border Community's past. That's no bad thing, but now that Holden has given us a taste for surprises, this one might seem a little flat.
Tracklist01. Total Order of Being
02. Future Beacon
03. Dowlais Wheelie Crew
04. Rite of Pant