Meditative London-based label The Crescent return with a trio of pure unadulterated futurism from the ever-ambivalent eleven8, who brings his typically progressive and unrestrained ethos to the table once more for the Changing Colours EP.

Following on from the frankly stunning Headlights EP from Bath’s Troy Gunner – without doubt one of our favourite releases of the year – the multifarious label continues on a 140bpm path with this offering, exploring the peripheries of the sound from its opposite poles.

The title track, a collaboration with unruly wünderkind Clarity, is a maximal exploration of the darker expanses of 140 territory. Its dub-techno tinged stabs flirt with the languid, looped melodies and punchy percussion, while set against the backdrop of the ominous, swaggering and cavernous bassline that lurks beneath the surface throughout. In true eleven8 style, Changing Colours is as bleakly raw as it is despondently emotive, while Clarity, usually at home with sparse, militant minimalism, here shows his adept versatility.

I Fell Into A Memory, as the name might suggest, is a much more subdued affair, all brooding, ethereal pads and discordant guitar riffs, underpinned by wonderfully fleeting atmospheric textures and a distant droning bassline. Scattered unfurls in much the same vein, the melancholy strings solo of a reverberated guitar echoing downtempo classics the likes of which Café del Mar is famed for, while the soft, muted percussion lends itself beautifully to the sentimental tone of the track’s expertly created soundscape.

As the lines between tempo and genre are continually blurred in this current spell of cross-pollination and disparity, multi-genre labels are – once again – nothing new. But establishing an imprint that manages to transcend tempo and maintain a clear sonic and visual continuity throughout is much less common.

Yet, three releases deep and that’s exactly what The Crescent appears capable of, seemingly able to deftly traverse the boundaries of subliminal electronica and all its microcosms. And when all that’s accompanied by the sleek and unique visual aesthetic that artist-designer buna has offered up, it all adds up to deliver a cutting edge label with boundless potential for the coming years.

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