Buzzin Electronic Music

Robert Logan – Inscape – Album Review

Robert Logan's second full-length: Inscape

Following the brilliant Accurate Spit Boy EP released prior to this album, April 6th will see the release of Robert Logan’s second full-length Inscape.

Those familiar with Robert Logan’s work will know what a pioneering force he is on the electronic music scene: he makes dark, resonating electronic compositions suited to the abandoned areas of dank cities, the hazy glow of bedrooms in streetlight, and the darkest part of the uncertain subconscious.

‘Inscape’ is a term relating to artistic work, meaning its essential quality. This essentiality is what Robert Logan is searching for on Inscape, more so even than his previous effort, Cognessence.

Also central to the album, we are told, is the experience of stumbling on an abandoned factory that was becoming engulfed by forest in Hungary. The duel between nature and culture, then, is a tension explored on Inscape. In fact, Logan’s recording of both acoustic and electronic instruments is representative of this. Perhaps even the art of music itself, which explores something transcendent and intangible whilst being firmly rooted on earth, is an inspiration for Robert Logan’s sonic explorations.

The opening tracks ‘ Angels and Insects’and ‘Stalactite’ are less schizophrenic that his previous work, featuring an enduring synth undertone that is the lining for a coat of aggressive bass blows and flickering blips. Even the contrast of what sounds like a piano, as unmelodic as it is, lends a hopeful sound to the dark production – something like an essence, perhaps.

In terms of genre, Robert Logan strips elements from grime, dub, drum n bass and dubstep scenes, and uses them in much purer soundcapes. The previously released ‘Accurate Spit Boy’, a highlight on the album, is an example of this, as is the brilliant ‘Throb’ which sounds like Pendulum after too much coffee (and with a lot more talent…).

Most interesting is ‘Balaton’ (name of the expansive Hungarian lake), and ‘The Warmth‘ which after the bursting aggression of ‘Ultraflux’, comes as peaceful (if still dark) electronica. These glimpses of silence, evoking the vast, still, misty waters of that lake, recur throughout the album on various tracks and show not only Robert Logan’s perceptive and sensitive range, but also his ability to create something that acts as a complete album concept.

BBC Online said of Logan that he is “…something of a prodigy… a man that is already showing a maturity and a musical/textural understanding that many simply never find.” And frankly, I couldn’t agree more.

Inscape is available on Slowfoot Records on CD and digital download.

This is a link to Robert Logan’s MySpace.