Album Review: Lorn - Ask The Dust

Linked with dubstep, but without any true kinship, Lorn's new album – his first on UK powerhouse Ninja Tune – is rhythmic and hypnotic. Bass rumbles and hums menacingly across its 12 tracks and while there are some catchy moments this is, by-and-large, an oppressive listening experience.

Melodies leaven the mood somewhat, but it's always a temporary measure. They slither around the surface, and are slowly dragged under, while beats arrive, fracture and vanish. This is a dark composition, skillfully crafted, consistent in tone and scope. Sporting a deeper and more digital sound than Lorn's previous 2010 album, Nothing Else, Ask The Dust also makes heavier use of vocals. Marcos Ortega's effected voice runs through a number of tracks on the album and it's an interesting progression of his sound. His voice never dominates proceedings, and for the most part it works quite well, a paranoia-inducing mutter more reminiscent of Dalek than Burial's work, but the vocals aren't the strongest aspect in the mix.

While this is an album where individual tracks tend to blur together into a whole, The Well is a wonderful centrepiece to the album, both as a track and as an encapsulation of the whole. Two simple, but catchy, melody lines dominates much of the six-minute track, running over the top of slow, opiatic beats, but the melody runs out and the drums cut, leaving nothing but a slowly fading rumble to envelope the listener.

Ask The Dust never really transcends its genre, but it does present a convincing case for bass music and skillfully avoids the sense of repetition that can threaten to overwhelm the work of similar artists.