Vessel: Punish, Honey

Punish, Honey
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Artist: Vessel
Genre: Electronic
Label: Tri Angle

Bristol producer Sebastian Gainsborough is already responsible for one of the the excellent Tri Angle Records' flagship releases in his 2012 debut album, Order of Noise, a murky exploration of claustrophobic dub techno and trippy synth patterns. Punish, Honey is similarly inscrutable and even more uncompromising. The dub influence has all but vanished, and in its place the ghost of industrial music hangs heavy, with in-the-red distortion and brutalist drum sounds. You won't, with the odd exception, feel like dancing, but this is electronic music with the power and attitude to make all else sound puny by comparison. The interweaving synth lines on Red Sex buzz malevolently; Euoi bangs and clatters with awful intent; and Anima is a magnificent seven minutes of slo-mo techno a la Andy Stott. It's punishing and suffocating, yes, but very sweet.