Church Andrews, Matt Davies - Axis (2022)

Following EPs 'Neighbours' (2020) and 'Pollen' (2021), Health is proud to present the first full length album from live electronics and percussion duo Church Andrews & Matt Davies.

Recorded between the artists' home studios in London and Shaken Oak Studios in Oxford, 'Axis' delves further into the duo's unique setup: a mutually informed conversation between live electronics and analogue percussion, in which Andrews' synth sounds and Davies' drum performances each act as a trigger to the other.

The results are a series of sonic organisms, semi-mechanical ecosystems that click and whirr with subtle, shifting focuses, as a natural biosphere does. This ecosystem roots itself in jazz, dub techno, hip-hop and minimalist music, as heard in percussively elusive, at times almost arrhythmic loops; playful takes on negative space; and interchangeable emphases on melody and frequency range. The project's experimental nature goes beyond mere hybridisation, weaving through an array of timbres, tunings and temporals on its way to finding new voices.

Andrews and Davies have built on the minimal sonic palette used for their last EPs to include new tuned percussion elements like Sabar, log and steel tongue drums, as well as additional digital synthesis techniques. In terms of instrumentation, the project veers between ultra-synthesised and almost analogue: for example, track 'Ghost' ebbs and flows between a drum break, Hirajoshi scale chords and a hyperreal, physical modelling synth-flute, which reappears in quirky, samba-glancing 'Giant' (this time alongside Sam Gendel-esque clarinet riffs).

The album gleams with rhythmic playfulness, exploring the lilt of 5/4 ('Straws') and 9/8 ('Candyfloss') time signatures with ease. Aptly titled 'Gallop' presents light-footed snare rims skipping over soft, granular guitar pads, while 'Trace' hinges on morphing drum patterns, expanding and contracting a hip-hop break by adopting different subdivisions of the same beat. And the erratic elastic rhythmic groove of 'Flutters', reminiscent of Mark Fell's 'Multistability', becomes encased in a more traditional half time rhythm.