The Christ. movement keeps on gathering speed with the release of this surprisingly vocal between-album snack. Hot on the heels of Christopher (hence Christ period) Horne’s fourth full-length and second critically-worshipped album for Benbecula, his label granted him carte blanche in formulating a teaser for their storied Minerals Series monthly mail out. Liquid Chris H’s Blue Shift Emissions, 2003’s Metamorphic Reproductive Miracle, and their surrounding EPs stuck pretty hard to the glacial downtempo formula he helped pioneer as a formative member of Boards Of Canada, from Twoism prior. Now, Bike sees the Edinburgh lad delving into busier, more upbeat designs and sounds.
Before this, I was beginning to suspect his bouncy “Ache/Eat” dance contribution to the Music Volume III compilation was a one-off glaring anomaly, but now the world makes sense again. “Glenbrook” hits that warm spot in your soul and soles under tin-can percussion, chirping distortion, and glowing analog synths piled up deep to a meandering trip-out story told by a young woman. The chasing “Chopper” hits some mad raunchy breaks, at times glitchy and at others spaced out like a sci-fi cinema classic, but always hinting at that deep ocean of Scottish chill, just taken up a notch. Mixing the EP together pays off big time, as the total listening experience, each track trailing off into the next, makes Bike easily the most instantly satisfying release in Horne’s already impressive catalog. It’ll make even the most adamant atheist among us testify that Christ. is indeed lord.