After a decade away from full-length releases, Younger Brother return with Mutually Assured Distraction, their fourth album for Twisted Records. The London electronica project began in 2001, and this nine-track set brings Simon Posford and Benji Vaughan's synthesised work together with vocals from MiraBelle Rose and Jay Marsh, plus cello from Rena Jones. It has a human edge that keeps the electronics from becoming purely decorative, with lyrics aimed at the numbness and overload of modern digital life.
The sequence moves from the unsettled “I Belong To Nowhere” through “Tetrachromat”, “Ticking In The Attic” and “Caravanserai” to the more settled “At Home In This World”, before closing with “Endless Drift”. That track order gives the album a clear sense of movement, even when the music stays inside its blend of programmed sound and played instrumentation. Simon Posford mixed every track at The Hallucinogen Sound Labs, Matt Colton handled mastering at Metropolis, and the artwork comes from Storm Thorgerson Studios. Younger Brother's audience will already know where to look, but anyone drawn to vocal-led electronica with cello, synthesizers and a psychedelic streak should find plenty here to explore.
