[Our Circula Sound]

The debut release on Sigha’s Our Circula Sound label was an exploratory take on ambient techno, showing how the London producer’s slowly intensifying techno-oriented sound could still be different from the legions of “Berghain” copycats even as it began to fit nicely into that universe. Almost a year later the second release finally lands, further solidifying Sigha’s sound into an intriguing hybrid of continental efficiency and classic UK brutality, miles removed from the “bass music” associations he appeared from.

To put it simply, the “Politics of Dying” might be Sigha’s best track, oozing with confidence and a stripped-back efficiency even more rigidly Teutonic than most of Sigha’s prominent champions like Marcel Dettmann. “Politics” charges forward with utmost grace, elements floating in liquid as they bounce back and forth: it’s hard-hitting but not bludgeoning as the metallic kick drum beats an almost housey pattern away amid a storm of white noise, snares and shakers. The strangely detuned, sci-fi-tinged chords are hypnotically monotonous, beacons in the dense and swirling fog, a quality that Blueprint head James Ruskin seizes on for his nine minute marathon of a remix. Ruskin pulls the track in an even more directly UK direction as the low-end is boosted and melodic elements are stretched into drones and layered in the background for the other sounds to sink into, a churning and slightly frightening abyss made all the creepier by Surgeon-esque melodramatic tinges.

The release is rounded off by a remix of the first Circula Sound’s “Over The Edge” by fellow English newcomer Shifted, and the remix falls in line with most of the mysterious entity’s work so far. Streamlined and extremely ascetic, Shifted pulls the loosely floating elements of “Edge” into line for an atmospheric techno workout with a surprisingly bumpy bassline. It’s a nice addition to an EP that shows a new generation of UK techno rubbing elbows with its ancestors, and in the hands of producers like Sigha, it’s heading in a promising direction.