Under Tangled Silence

by 
AlbumApr 25 / 202511 songs, 1h 2m 20s
IDM
Noteable Highly Rated

The Oxford-based musician was a virtuoso DJ before he became a producer, pulling off risky transitions of genre and tempo in vinyl-only sets known to flit from hip-hop to drum ’n’ bass to free jazz. Before that, though, the artist born Felix Manuel was something of a child prodigy as a pianist and harpist. On *Under Tangled Silence*, the first Djrum full-length since 2018’s *Portrait with Firewood*, Manuel’s talents as an instrumentalist (piano, harp, and percussion) are foregrounded as much as his electronic production. On “A Tune for Us,” cascading piano gradually gives way to jungle breaks; elsewhere, heady acid house and futuristic dancehall wash up against a blissful, piano-guided ambient meditation. Manuel began the record during the pandemic lockdowns, then rebuilt it from scratch after a catastrophic hard-drive meltdown; the result is a striking, holistic portrait of an artist fully inhabiting himself.

89

8.7 / 10

Pairing fluid improvised piano with mind-bendingly complex drum programming, the UK producer returns with a mercurial survey of what sound like his deepest emotions.

4.9 / 5

Djrum - Under Tangled Silence review: Death and rebirth