base2 has gone down a variety of audio rabbit holes throughout the last 8 years; from audio engineering, music production, and sound design, to audio production and design for film, television, and video games, his portfolio could hardly be more accredited. There’s a certain mark of intense focus that has always surrounded his musical output, and that focus has rubbed off positively everywhere it’s been channeled on stage. After several years of performances across the American touring and festival circuit, base2 has the eyes and ears of his seniors and contemporaries across the spectrum of electronic music. Following a smashing album debut in New Orleans’ Saenger Theatre back in January, he’s given Colony Productions the green light to crack the tightly welded seal on his first full length LP, Lateral.

Given the veritable years put into the production refinement of Lateral, the degree of polish, fidelity, and composition across the record permeate the feeling of an artist deep in their prime. Compositionally, there’s no question about how long some of these melodies have been marinating, stirring, and gradually evolving, often eschewing more amicable note relationships for high tension pairings juxtaposed with sweeping resolutions. base2’s vision is somewhere between an electronic seance and a synthesizer being ripped apart at the center of a singularity, and that duality is felt within each song and throughout the breadth of the album.

The album’s opening track, “Baphomet”, is as eerie as the name suggests, with the distance between melody and din closing in to create a deliberately ignominious atmosphere. Bent, fractured audio artifacts cross over one another like frayed wires, with the occasional burst of signal ringing out into the stereo space. Just as the composition takes on the form of a sonic deluge, subtle harmonies balance out brackish synthesis gradually taming the unruly textures that make “Baphomet” such an undulant expedition.

“Aphelion” is defined as the point orbit at which an object is the furthest from the sun. As the ultimate song of the record, that definition is translated through wide spatial relationships, where precision textures and subtle pulses of sound mingle in stereo depth. A sense of finality drips off of the occasional melodic stir, and the conclusion of the track mirrors the conclusion of Lateral; high tension giving way to smooth sonic interpolation.

With the relationship between music production and audio engineering growing more divergent by the day, base2 is at the center of an evolving definition of musicianship. Lateral is both a wide canvas of musical ideas and the refined product of a meticulous perfectionist. The nexus of art and science is a balancing act between these elements, and base2’s time-honed skill sets have paid off with the equilibrium found across Lateral.

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