Whoa there big boy, these lads just flipped ya. Flipped ya for real. And by the time this album's over they'll have flipped ya again. It fades in from complete silence and for the majority of the first half of the LP it's a thing of wondrous and surprisingly immediate beauty, with gorgeously icy synth washes laid over beats that are as straightforward as anything they've done in the past ten or so years but gradually, by the end and without you ever quite noticing a definitive point of transition, the sounds become grainier and the beats become more abstracted, coming more and more in line with what they've been up to recently. The almost picturesque loveliness of the earlier part of the album will be the initial hook for most but the later tracks will no doubt house spectacular delights for those willing to give time to exploring them fully. Before I sign off I've got to give a special mention to 'known(1)', the chirruping mechanised regality of which is making me fantasise about a medieval world inhabited by clockwork mice. But also sounds like it could be Japanese. And probably loads of other things too. That's the beauty of Autechre and this one is definitely a beauty.. But they always are as far as I'm concerned!
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Sound clips for Oversteps by Autechre: on CD at Norman Records UK. CD, Warp, WARPCD210, £10.79.
