Pretty pissed off at first when the green version of the vinyl sold out pretty much on the same day Boomkat put this on sale. Eventually got my hands on the black vinyl which I am rather pleased about. I’m already a big Pye Corner Audio fan. Ghost Box issues like Stasis and Sleep Games are my go-to long players for those days where I just need to escape and take things slowly. I’ve also got Jenkins’ Dance Cave EP if I ever feel like going closer to 128bpm but generally speaking, the atmospheric retro synths across most of his work are the stuff of dreams. You can’t help but feel transported via some kinda Doctor-Who time-warp into an alternate reality.

Stasis and Sleep Games were pretty bleak visions and the dystopian feel continues in Profane Architecture, albeit taking a much more darker turn – you could almost taste the grey concrete.

Head Technician – Béton Brut

Here, as Head Technician, Jenkins combines two of my favorite interests: synths and brutalist architecture, to create an inspired sound that feels much more experimental than previous releases. The record opens with First Pour, listening to this you are transported to the initial enthusiasm for concrete homes, machines for living in.

Sped-up black-and-white visuals of men and machinery with blocks of beton brut begin forming in your mind’s eye.

The mood continues to grow bleaker and that by the time you hit the B side, the desolation and neglect of architecture that once promised so much becomes woven into darker numbers like Decay Blossoms, culminating into Demolition. The soundtrack of demise.

Head Technician – The New Brutalism

This record is pure synth-work, and Jenkins have thankfully omitted overlaying voice-overs from 70s information films – no matter how tempting it would have been.

The end result is a beautiful piece of work that captures the deliberately cold atmosphere in stunning colour.

It’s brilliant.

Buy Profane Architecture here.

  • Image Credit: VIA.