Cheju - Pica
[Unlabel]

Unlabel’s Series52 Project is a simply wonderful idea. For each week of the 52 week year one album will be released. All releases have matching packaging with photos of a landscape taken weekly by Unlabel and also the artist’s own image on the cover.

Each release is printed in extremely limited edition runs of a mere 100 copies, and it is possible to subscribe for the whole lot, which I feel may be a very good idea.

Co-owner of Boltfish Records Wil Bolton (Cheju) presents his Series52 offering. It comes on satisfyingly strong, like a malleable SKAM release, with bulky electronics that degenerate and are reconstructed under solid loops and perfectly balanced programmed beats. The album continues to degenerate further into dustier more organic tracks, which resonate under cyclic melodies.

Interesting and varied for an album of its kind, Pica draws from many sources, with beats hushed under organic programming, before being let loose over heavier bass sounds. Bolton achieves a gratifying and accomplished sound through the combination of many influences.

Pica succeeds in doing what many have failed at, sounding both innovative and retrospective.