B12 - Orbiting Souls (2015)

UK techno veterans Steve Rutter and Michael Golding revisit their B12 alias: following on from the Bokide 325 release on Soma, 'Orbiting Souls' marks their debut on Delsin – a four track EP of time tourist techno, reminiscent of the pair's Warp-era output. Informed by the process of dealing with the loss of a friend, the EP contemplates the idea of lingering souls and spirits. Those come to life in the form of imaginative strings and pad melodies, carried by defining 808 and 909 elements. 'Two Stories' does exactly what its title entails – a patient, saturated beat and introverted pads morph into a rhythmic firework of 909 sounds. 'Nautilis Horizon' seems to pick up where the opener's storyline ends, those classic fluid melancholic strings grounded by resonating kicks and analogue splashes of bass. With its intertwined rhythms, both 'It's My Blood' and 'Universal Alignment' have percussion at their focus, taking on more fragmented, less structured forms.