- Pittsburgh Track Authority's second record may appear courtesy of Seattle's Further Records, but the material itself feels a long way from either locale. "Archipelago 6" calls to mind deep-blue skies, sparkling seas and flocks of birds. Perhaps it's just the title, but it feels like a majestic chopper ride over tropical islands, a merry bassline, elegant pads and slightly-tweaked 303 standing in for the bustling life forms which might be visible below. Beginning with the barest of elements, things move on in a perfectly linear fashion, new loops perched sequentially on top to create a sustained, enveloping peak in the final quarter.
The dub version is subtly different, unwinding and blurring the original's tightly-coiled guitar stabs, excising the 303 and turning down the soaring pads. The short-lived "Archipelago 3" is more fragmented than either of them, alternating smartly between urgency and calm. The former mood is nurtured with jolts of twanging synth, and the latter with patient piano chords which don't seem to fade out so much as evaporate, like a puff of rising smoke. All this is laid out around sparse beat work, giving the impression that things could accelerate at any moment.
Tracklist A1 Archipelago 6
A2 Archipelago 3
B Archipelago 6 (Dub)