Actress - Ghettoville

Actress
Ghettoville
27 January 2014
Werkdiscs/Ninja Tune

3 stars out of 5

As Actress, Wolverhampton’s Darren J. Cunningham continues to expand his musical palate on his fourth LP, Ghettoville, though the results are somehow less exciting than 2012’s R.I.P. There’s no momentum built from track to track, no unity to justify this being released as a proper LP rather than as a series of twelve-inch singles.

 

The brooding downbeat distorted crunch of “Forgiven” starts things off, creeping along like creaky haunted furniture through a deserted, ready-for-demolition council estate. “Street Corp.” is a nod to middle period Autechre glitch, though Cunningham begins to introduce the melodic aspects which come more to the fore later on in the track listing. “Contagious” sees the artist pouring broken glass over a 78 played at 33. “Birdcage” comes off initially as drum’n’bass at gabber bpms before revealing its true nature as early ‘80s R&B/electropop crossover. “Gaze,” at track number ten, is the first beat-centered piece on Ghettoville, and while its sonics and samples will do in a pinch, it seems tossed off and uninspired. “Skyline” is even more suggestive of the dance floor, via the faux scratching and minimalist 1/1 of platEAU’s Music for Grass Bars. Cunningham keeps up the chameleon act with “Image,” which launches from a lost corner of new romantic synthpop and glides along on a current of air to land in the robotic funk of contemporary French disco.

While some exercises in stylistic multiple personality disorder are thrilling and engaging (see Ween’s Chocolate and Cheese, His Name Is Alive’s Ft. Lake), Ghettoville is neither. This is not to say the music isn’t good—it is. It simply doesn’t work as an album. If Cunningham’s intent was to create a work where it didn’t matter if the listener shuffled the tracks or not, he succeeded; however, this is a cheap trick that is more lazy than inventive.

reviewed by Richard Krueger