Waveform

Personnel includes: Paul Clarke, SkanWon, Theo S. M.D.
Mark Royal turned heads with the elegant and incisive breakbeat artistry of THE SELF-EVIDENT TRUTH OF AN INTUITIVE MIND. Although the record catapulted him to the forefront of the "intelligent drum n' bass" movement, Royal (and primary collaborator Cris Stevens) felt limited by the rhythm-centric mentality of the dancefloor. First and foremost, TPower was about experimentation and breaking rules. Meeting audience expectation by producing another album of lightning-crack breakbeats and treacly synth motifs would be akin to chasing one's tail.
WAVEFORM returns to TPower's roots in the hallucinogenic sound-realm of Royal's LSD experiences--all but abandoning the drum n' bass trappings that listeners had come to associate with the project. Royal filters out the dazzlingly complex rhythms, leaving only a potent, distilled atmosphere of chemically heightened paranoia, sensation, and skewed perception. Breakbeat traces linger, some twisted into narcotized hiphop ("A Large Grey Area," "Stress Fractures"), others streaking through "Refraction," "Bionic Chronic," and "Fluffy Crystalised Phat Bags" like flashes of sobriety. TPower's abstract but glistening melodies also remain, caught in the vacuum-like suspension of tracks like "Postcards From Pluto" and "G7." But the overall effect of WAVEFORM is one of profound spatial disorientation.