Surface 10 - A Stray Ending (2023)

Surface 10 is the moniker of Californian electronic musician Dean De Benedictus. He has previously released albums on the DiN label with In Vitro Tide (DiN8) & Surface Tensions (DiN24). Finishing a hiatus of over a decade, which saw him pursuing several film projects, he returns to DiN with a stunningly original new album, “A Stray Ending” (DiN77).

The DiN label has always actively encouraged the blurring of genre boundaries and with this new opus Dean has certainly done that with influences as far flung as Electronica, Ambient, IDM, Berlin School, Glitch, Progressive Jazz Fusion, World and Cinematic music. Such a heady mixture is immediately apparent on the opener “Neverheart” with its achingly beautiful and haunting chordal themes overlaid with an intertwining tapestry of percussion and glitched out effects. The album rises and falls through layers of dazzling sound design and compositional complexity to reach its apex with the freak-out intensity of “Azz”. The following track “Dorothy Spearhead” is perhaps the most concise piece on show here, with its vocal melodic hook and danceable drum groove. This leads into the spectacular “Non Fi” which propels the listener on an epic tour de force of electronic invention before the album closes with the melancholic shimmering beauty of “Universal Winter (Rework)”.

This new album from Surface 10 is almost beyond categorisation and is full of so many inventive and detailed sonic and musical elements that it will give the listener something new to focus in on each and every listen. Another truly unique addition to the DiN catalogue.