Exhale

The eight tracks that make up UK producer Batu and Rome’s Donato Dozzy’s Exhale album create their own self contained sonic world, abstract, wordless, sophisticated, futuristic, and intense. You could call it a techno album but the tracks strain at the very edges of the genre’s boundaries, with Batu bringing a distinctly UK bass music feel to the productions, with detailed, intricate, unearthly percussion and drums, and heavy duty bass. The pair of producers maintain the overall haunting, introspective, deep, unearthly mood across varying tempos, from scuttling, shuffling nocturnal post techno stalkers, to mid tempo, warping, 4/4 grinders, and the down tempo beatific album closer Bloom which takes the same complex, granular approach to percussion as the rest of the album, and a similar cinematic soundscape feel too, but which gradually moves towards a glorious yet subtle, shimmering finale.