Midnight Colour

Brighton based producer Alan Myson’s Ital Tek project returns to Planet Mu for a second long player. Meeting dubstep and garage’s matrix of sub bass and lurching 2-step rhythms half-way with electronica at its most melodic, ‘Midnight Colour’ is its name and it’s epic. The mood has lightened since his debut ‘Cyclical’ plus the tempo has dropped to a more languorous 130 bpm creating more space to enfold the melody and texture. Songs like ‘Moonbow’ or ‘Subgiant’ embody an optimistic nocturnal reverie that could count the Black Dog’s ‘Bytes’ album as it’s ancestor. In contrast, 'Satellite' has a darker feel with it’s New Romantic style synth melodies set to a skeletal rhythm, and ‘Black and White’s surging, wordless vocals are carried by gentle synths and bass arrangements. 'Strangelove' has a more stepping feel, set to a tough 4/4 beat and 'Infinite' marries throbbing bass with marimba and echoing Timpani crashes. The album fittingly culminates with ‘Restless Tundra’, a song that features the vocals of Anneka, which feature in sampled slithers throughout many of the tracks, the piece summing up the reflective mood of the album.

Brighton’s [a]Ital Tek[/a] did this on 2008’s ‘Cyclical’ debut, where deep bass tussled with widescreen IDM lushness, and he’s done it again here.

There are always some artist that just kind of fall between the cracks, regardless of the quality of their music. Some deservedly so, others merely because of circumstance. Brighton dubstep producer Ital Tek (born Alan Myson) might be seen as unfairly falling victim to this, more for his effortless blending of styles than anything else.