Following on the heels of his Boosted/Forked dual release, and dropping just ahead of his long-awaited and much anticipated return stateside, Seppa’s latest record is arguably some of his most developed and distinctive productions to date; the Meliora EP reshapes the image of Seppa normally beholden to the purely vicious and weighty end of the bass music spectrum. While the punch and ferocity of that define his output are certainly apparent, there’s a marked focus on arrangements within arrangements, on the select relationships between tones, and on progressive songwriting fundamentals. Meliora adds a bounty of audible technicolor to a previously and potently austere compositional palette, showing just how much firepower is still under wraps for the Seppa project.

Drum and Bass has seen a resurgence of interest in the North American underground across the space of just the last few years, and in line with a swath of contemporaries staking their claim in genre’s amorphous boundaries, Meliora’s opening track “Imber” shuffles between nosediving breakdowns and flighty conversations between melodious synthesis. It’s the tipping of a hand that’s holding a bounty of material inspired by both past and future exploits, leading straight into the avant “Jaque”, who’s stuttered orchestral overture pairs up with the largest, and consequently meanest bass line across the record. “Apricus” follows the opening pair, toning down the intensity by a clear several degrees. Quintessentially downtempo, but fused with the distorted, curious textures that are so emblematic of the artist, it follows a repetitious, sampled vocal arc that maintains its course a top a churning sea of production artifacts and intentional spurts of synthesis. To close out the record, “Vermix” lays out space-aged and nuanced iteration of contemporary halftime, flitting between focused lead lines and mad dashes through extraordinarily gltiched-out territory. As an entire package, Meliora is by far the most matured Seppa release to date, showcasing the frayed edges of bass music and beyond.

With Seppa’s November tour just around the corner, this EP wets the tongue to his new compositions and developments in and out of the lab. To add to the growing anticipation, he’s cracking the seal a second time this Sunday at 2pm EST; with a visual accompaniment designed by Laia and Tenorless, the full EP will be streaming live through his YouTube page for your discerning end-of-week entertainment.

FOLLOW Seppa: SoundCloud / Bandcamp / Spotify / Facebook