Gressive

Having recently released a collaboration between Endgame & DÆMON (London and Oakland, respectively) and a wealth of cross-continental remixes, Infinite Machine has always championed the internet as a place that can foster unlikely musical alliances online. This is more true than ever with their newest signee, Gressive, who met via Twitter. The duo, comprised of vocalist lloydfears and avant-club producer SHALT, quickly found common ground in a desire to create texturally rich music that's full of physicality. Both could see the potency of the human voice and it's unique ability to create organic feedback within digital compositions. The initial fruits of their collaborative project is a self-titled EP that'll grab you by the throat.

Gressive EP vehemently announces it's arrival with the Insufficient Funds. SHALT weaves intense bass snarls and crescendos of mallet hits in the refrain, contrasted with an arpeggiated, grime-inflected B part. lloydfears' vocals are urgent and enraged as he delivers lyrical nods to the late Mark Fisher, ("I can feel the future falling in"). It's not hard to read lloyd's lyrics on a more macroeconomic level than simple denial of nightclub admission; "Insufficient funds no way are you getting in. Card just declined no way are you getting in." SHALT's approach to interdependent sound design is on full display here, as lloydfears' vocals seems to directly affect the instrumental, slicing through the beat's outro like an electric saw.

Isolation OCD follows up next, a marriage between SHALT's creeping 100bpm beat and lloydfears' lyrics of pandemic paranoia. Part of lloyd's strength as a writer is his ability to keep his metaphors ambiguous whilst still full of feeling. "Wanna come around me, what's your status?" could relate as much social media clout as it could to our shared viral histories. The twin reference to DJ Slugo's Where The Rats and HP Lovecraft's The Rats in The Walls also deserves a tip of the cap.

Slowing things down further, the beat on Sever Ties ends up sounding almost like a cyberpunk, Do Androids Dream… dancehall. More confident here than the anger and fear heard on previous lyrics, lloydfears boasts of finding a subversive existence outside of the established system; "Money is a game we're forced to play. Can't blame me when I found some ways round it." The EP is rounded out with Snek, the audible equivalent to sundown in an industrial city. lloyd paints a dark portrait of undefined angst and violent outbursts ("Machine put a hole in the boy like ozone, it's a cold zone").

With Gressive EP, SHALT and lloydfears have brilliantly encapsulated the anxiety of the modern condition and our collective attempt to, as lloyd puts it, "grasp at unknowable spiritual knowledge while having 24/7 headlines fed into an Instagram feed".