- According to the press release, Phenix 2 is Paul Rose at "his most impenitent." Considering this is a man whose Twitter presence centres on baiting followers, posting pictures of wallet-bruising restaurant receipts and keeping @DJsComplaining in business, that's a debatable statement. But the claim that the EP is "entirely devoid of the euphoric hallmarks of the Personality era" rings true. As with Phenix 1, this is Scuba flexing his tough-techno muscles.
But as Rose has shown over his career, he's a man who always embraces variety. Opener "Aphids" is a beatless mash of synths squealing in space, with toms that echo out into infinity, before the Chemical Brothers-lite of "Choke" comes crashing in to make things more peak-time. It's a track that builds to looming summits, which bolt the preceding squeals to a thumping drum line. This is Rose in festival mode; the B-side's rather less inviting. The swirling winds that open "Solitary Confinement" evoke a more barren soundscape, and for the first two minutes it seems like you've stumbled into a North Lake record. But then in comes a gut-rumbling synth, Rose slowly opens the filters, and you're suddenly faced with something screaming over rubber-bullet drums. By the time you hit the brooding kicks of "Distance," a breather comes as relief.
TracklistA1 Aphids
A2 Choke
B1 Solitary Confinement
B2 Distance