SHIFTING SIGNALS

Reset Corne de Brume Automaton Step to The Edge Roar Machines The Passage No Latitude for Errors The Way I See you Matière Noire Oracle Synthetic Mind Desertic Over two decades, Terence Fixmer has mapped his singular sound across a sizable stack of singles, EPs and seven grit-smeared solo albums intended to make you sweat. For his first album on Mute, the spaceinspired ˜Shifting Signals™, he deals out a fistful of club-minded, pitchblack ragers while expanding his sound palette to convey a wider spectrum of moods. Lead single ˜Corne de Brume™ is the album™s guiding star and hard-hitting statement piece; a six-minute tempest of sawtoothed synths designed to evoke a ship™s foghorn, setting a moody and uncompromising tone with ear-piercing synthwork that slices through the foggy noise. šI was imagining a boat sailing off somewhere into the distance›, says Fixmer. Throughout ˜Shifting Signals™, the follow up to 2018™s album ˜Through the Cortex™, he fixes his gaze on a vivid sci-fi world where deep space stretches out infinitely. ˜Shifting Signals™ was sparked by a formative childhood viewing of Ridley Scott™s 1979 sci-fi horror classic ˜Alien™. šI was totally traumatised but at the same time fascinated by it,› he recalls. šI kept thinking about the images from the film while I was making this album›. ˜Shifting Signals™ swoops, dips and scales the heights of white-knuckle adventure, and throughout the album concepts of unknowable space extend to the vast and mysterious natural world in our more immediate orbit. On tracks such as ˜Corne de Brume™ and ˜Step to the Edge™ Fixmer captures more tangible elements  the sea, earth  but always with an eye on their wild and uncontrollable side. On ˜Step to the edge™, Fixmer reverts to techno fervour noddding to his floor-shaking club repertoire. Similarly, ˜No Latitude for Errors™ plots the brawny coordinates of EBM via an onslaught of jabbing synths and furious beats. Along with hypnotic stomper ˜The Way I See You™, these tracks feel noticeably rooted in the trailblazing ˜techno body music™ he™s known by many for. But it™s not all fire, brimstone and banging techno. ˜The Passage™ slowly builds tension through layers of droning, noise that surges powerfully, like a jet engine. Meanwhile, the clear-eyed piano and B-movie synths on ˜Synthetic Mind™ bring a cinematic element to the album that ambient closing track ˜Desertic™ brings into focus. šI wanted give people a direct movie image in their head when they listen to it,› says Fixmer.