Like all good labels should, Foto Sounds have spent the majority of their successful year searching far and wide for new producers to add to the roster, welcoming the likes of Volume A, Ohmtrix and Itmek in the process. Whilst branching out is always a good thing, the Foto crew finish their year by welcoming back one of my favourites to feature on the label so far, Gnasha. Returning for the first time since the huge ‘Contortion‘ EP debut last year, Gnasha delivers her darkest material yet in the shape of ‘Tainted‘ EP, featuring four tracks of brooding darkness and frosty eastern textures, perfect for the time of year including today’s premiere, ‘Sullen‘.
We’re first confronted with the rough reptilian rumbles of ‘Ophidia‘, which immediately drops us into the familiarly dark and mystical places that Gnasha seems to relish in. The eastern snake charming flutes of ‘Ophidia‘ mutate into the eastern plucks of today’s premiere ‘Sullen‘, where magical arpeggios and deeper-than-deep frequency’s are swept into battle against descending mid-range rockets, like being caught in the midst of the desert storm at midnight. The EP’s title-track ‘Tainted‘, indulges in the record’s most haunting moments. Most obvious is a sharp chattering lead, haunting the open space between pulsating lows and fiery shots of reesey distortion. And finally we come full circle to ‘Shiva‘, a return to the hypnotic woodwind melodies, floating above devastating sub stomps and some of the most intricate drums on the release – Gnasha‘s most potent concoction!
As the first producer to return to Foto Sounds aside from label heads Unkey and Khanum, Gnasha takes the opportunity to not only enforce her magically deep and growing sound, but also reflects what I see as the true atmospheric sounds of Foto – deep dark and thunderous!
‘Tainted‘ EP is available to download exclusively from the Foto Sounds Bandcamp now and will be available everywhere else on 10/12/2021.
Check out Gnasha on Soundcloud and Instagram.
Check out Foto Sounds on Soundcloud and Instagram.