Raffertie – ‘Sleep Of Reason’

The man clearly has talent and ideas, it’s just a shame he can’t bring them together as a coherent whole.

London-based producer Benjamin Stefanski used to be all about fidgety dance music: 2009’s ‘Wobble Horror’ had a nasty drive to it, and 2010’s ‘Rank Functions’ EP was gnarled and spiky. But it’s all change for this debut full-length. He says it’s about “coming to terms with our relative demons”, but ‘Sleep Of Reason’ sounds like straight-up heartbreak. “Babe, it’s hard to say that we’ve come to the end”, he mews on the crackly ‘Rain’, a song that’s similar but inferior to James Blake’s ‘Retrograde’. And he’s gone for a downtempo version of Jai Paul’s cut’n’paste style on ‘Build Me Up’, where a choppy voice prays “Build me up but don’t let me go”. The man clearly has talent and ideas – best displayed on the skewed ‘Principle Action’ or warped choirs of ‘Back Of The Line’ – so it’s not surprising he gets bored with making one style of music. It’s just a shame he can’t bring them together as a coherent whole.

Siân Rowe

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories