TOKI FUKO レコード& CD

Review: Moscow-based deep techno artist Toki Fuko arrives on Russian label Luck of Access with three cerebral tracks forming his glittering new EP, 'Sanctum'. Starting with the expanding and contracting spaciousness of the title track, 'Sanctum', Korotaev allows space for reverberating synthlines to extend outwards, skittering into the distance across the pulsating core of the track, exploring a reflective space that feels at once private and collective. For the second side, everything slows down to a patient, meditative pace. Luxuriating in a moment of slowed breathing, 'Draft' unfolds in a series of exhaling atmospheres, delicately punctuated with strokes of light, glistening on the surface of a rippling body of water. The final track, 'Drift', moves downstream, driven by a winding ambience and decorated with flurries of unravelling organic percussion. At the heart of each of these tracks is a force that feels eternal, held in undulating patterns that continue long beyond their end.

Review: Toki Fuko has quietly slipped out some high-grade ambient electronics over the past 10 years, but this double-vinyl drop on the ever excellent Silent Season represents some his most striking work to date. In line with the label's aesthetic, gauzy dub techno atmospheres prevail in the main, as thick billowing clouds of chord drift over submerged, stripped down rhythms. There is also space for other moods to infect the process though - there's a laconic 90s chill-out room groove to "Spring Ray (Outtake)", which then gets reshaped as a pattering percussive meditation on the EP's closing mix. Stunning, immersive approaches from start to finish.