#post techno

Beatrice Dillon: Workaround (PAN)

Beatrice Dillon's first album is unsurprisingly unpredictable. Just as her discography zigs and zags across very different sounds, Workaround subverts any expectations that may have been there, however vague. Workaround's various tracks have some of the spaciousness of dub, but her arrangements often are drier and restrained, with additional players contributing hand percussion, strings, vocals and more. Even with all of those assorted complements to Dillon's explorations, Workaround feels scaled back and sparse. Not a sound is out of place, and its crispness gives it a certain confidence that's understated. "Workaround Five" emphasizes Lucy Ralton's strings as a minimal, neoclassical interlude, while many others are downtempo and intimate sounding. At other times, Dillon shows off her leftfield dance music chops, as in the uptempo skitter of "Clouds Strum" or the nervous twitches of "Square Fifths" (both of which feature percussion from Kuljit Bhamra). Some of the sparer, shorter cuts lend a certain sketchbook quality to the album, which is part of its strength. It has a willingness to indulge fleeting instincts as far as feels appropriate and then shifts gears for the next in a way that feels inspired.