Sam Barker established a singular form of cascading ambient trance-techno with his groundbreaking 2018 EP
Debiasing, and expanded on this euphoric sound with his 2019 full-length
Utility. Two subsequent white-label EPs contained even more intricate sound design, as well as the presence of breakbeats on some tracks.
Unfixed, his first release on
Smalltown Supersound, engineers kick drums back into the equation, but still sounds like it was beamed in from another planet. "Birmingham Screwdriver," perhaps a nod to industrial techno artists like
Surgeon, starts the EP on an abrasive, unsettling note, with thick, buzzing synth tones glitching and pulling in multiple directions at once. "Wick and Wax" returns to his familiar ambient trance glide, this time helped along by inventive beat patterns. "Golden Hammer" seems to have more propulsive drums at first, but they dissolve in the flow of intricate polyrhythms. "Percussive Maintenance" places hyperactive, twitching beats in a cool stream of ambient dub synths, and the effect is akin to a refreshing workout. ~ Paul Simpson
