Electronic music can often seem fixed on darkness and dystopia, cavernous scale and vastness but Kristian Shelley’s electro-fusion projects as Inwards have always focused on the small things. Inpired by the countryside around his Worcestershire home there’s a folktronica playfulness about his music and a warmth to his quirkiness. Past Inwards tracks been built around his sadly departed dog’s family tree (‘Zoomies’), lucky charms (When It Rains It pours) and the optimism of everyday people (Feeling So Fun Reality). So probably a hint of unassuming new age mindfulness hovers around Shelley’s motivations as well.
Now comes a new Inwards album ‘Free Flow’ out on Rainbow Bridge Records and more fizzing mod-synth and sampler refreshment. As soon as you hit the first grooves of Call Me you know that you are welcome here. The vamping sub-bass pulse, the warm, vibes-like synth tone, the whispy, rhythmic tick and the chirpy vocal loop, there’s a Four Tet/Adem lightness of touch about this music that enables it to breeze in and breeze out again.
Those voice loops which Inwards conjures are central to ‘Free Flow’s vibe. On the Lemon Jelly-esque Waiting 4U the vocal repeat is sharp on meter and rich in character, bringing some simmering excitement to the song’s melodic chime. Bashful is less strident, all tympanic beats and distortion curling around the chord sequence, but it’s the prayer calling songline which really adds to the mystery. Perhaps it’s on the bleep-popping Fishin that Inwards wonky chorale is most inventive, the vocal layers becoming a rippling undercurrent for a gorgeous warbling synth.
‘Free Flow’ maybe references the improvisational approach that Inwards explores on this album. The foundations of repetition and groove allow the tunes space to find their own way. Take the bubbling nineties drum n’ bass of Fireworx, where a revolving chord pattern builds intensely without the need to arrive or resolve. Similarly on the gentler Thoughtz, a chiming synth sequence is at the spine of the cut with snippets of percussive effects and harmonic sprinkles adding colour to the overall picture.
From the retro mis-spells of the titles to the uncluttered clarity of the mix there’s a nineties IDM feel about the whole album but without any dystopian pre-occupations. Something natural and organic energises Inwards music. That shows in the more ambient tracks such as the pillowy downtempo of Friends where the synth melody line purrs with warm satisfaction. There’s a whisper of Sakamoto/YMO lingering here. Soo Cold is equally restful, a cyclical zithering loop and soft padding beats at its centre. The point where the track strips back to the drum part then lets a pirouetting synth tune take the attention is just perfect.
Closing track Never4 sees Inwards widens his lens further, a panorama of countryside sounds all absorbed into a folksy sonic landscape. From the ripples, whistles, chatter and sampled balladry, calming fulfilment rises. It’s a Virginia Astley meets Mouse On Mars encounter that only someone of Inwards inventiveness could sustain.
There’s something strangely compulsive about ‘Free Flow’ that’s hard to pin down. You can draw parallels here with the clear thinking tunefulness of Shinici Atobe’s recent work, a way of being cosy without any false glitz. Intentionally pleasing, often sunny and frequently mischievous, Inwards intriguing leftfield techno has an openness that wins you over.
Get your copy of ‘Free Flow‘ by Inwards from your local record store or direct from Inwards HERE
