★★★☆☆
Pinpointing the mellower angles of Folded Spaces is an instant spoiler alert from this UK technologist. Lee J Malcolm essentially packs his heavy duty motifs back into storage, as if there’s a time and a place, so one set of fans of the 2011 LP will be a little disappointed that “Miri Pow” is the sole purveyor of low wrenching rumbles, while “Trashcan Riotface Queen” has spots of techno in its blood. He is however keeping alive an interest in late night, stargazing electronica that was the other part of the deal on his debut. “Wonder How” adds heavy craters to the formation of moon dust clouds, and the fine “Freememake” is transfixed by the night sky until it finds itself in the face of a meteor shower.
The early danger is being even-tempered electronica with little of the unexpected, an uninterrupted route from A to B. “To London To Meet The Band” tries settling this score by planting layers of the cryptic, as Malcolm develops a reclusive aura of a bedroom alchemist by streetlight using a quill to fuel feeling, and “For Dam” displays a Burial-like lurch. “Trappings” and “We Just Might” reach insignificant outcomes, though both are technically skilled in their poise — therein lies the difficulty to stay above average when it comes to relaxation babbling along, occasionally soaring and with a little tension still in earshot.
File under: Vessels, ASC, The Fractal Skulls