The Range's debut album for Donky Pitch, Nonfiction, was one of my favourite releases from last year and this new EP proves it was no fluke.
Panasonic feels a little like the DVD extras to Nonfiction - at times a more direct celebration of the best music that inspired this sound originally, but mostly it is more of the same. Opener Slow Build is tight and direct and does what it says, layering samples, hi-hats and electronic stabs into a track that gradually builds to the kind of emotive break that made the album such a joy.
Two is much more reminiscent of some of the best moments on Nonfiction. Like that album's Metal Swing it melds and distorts an unnamed MC's rhymes as The Range builds a whirl of melody around it, like a bag of glass swirled around your head that splits to create a shower of tinkling chaotic melodies. It is the sort of three-minute wonder that sees The Range make 95% of electronic producers appear utterly irrelevant. Sony is equally impressive, a swirling dream of melodies and a child-like distorted vocal thrown together to create a modern hymnal experience.
Panasonic raises as many questions as it answers. Here are a clutch more tracks just as good as those on Nonfiction. Yet the question is where The Range goes next, having seemingly invented and mastered his kitchen-sink production style in the space of a single album. Whilst we wait to find out, this is a perfect stop-gap.
Panasonic is released through Donky Pitch on 24 March, available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link]. Check out Slow Build on Soundcloud: