Dark Magus - Night Watchman (Alphaphone)

It's so frustrating when your favourite artist has years and years of silence between albums, only to eventually reappear with something that shows how they lost the plot somewhere along the line. That's why artists like Richard H. Kirk put others to shame. The fact that he returns as Dark Magus literally months after his last album ( as Sandoz) gives the listener the chance to track his thought process and experiments in real time. Despite the moody moniker (one of his many guises), this album is actually a lighter affair, less doomey than the previous album. If the obscura cover artwok (courtesy of Designers Republic) is anything to go by it would appear that Night Watchman is a conceptual soundtrack from sunset (21:00.07) to sunrise (5:00.09). It's true that as time moves on and the tracks progress the beats get heavier and phatter. By track three, 'Solid' the mood has shifted to a thriving urban groove that eventually sweetens but is curtailed to make way for 'Nothing Has Been Said', a post-midnight piece that begins to suggest that all is not as it seems.

In 'Mami Wata' - one of the highlights of the album - Kirk returns briefly to his industrial roots, but any atmosphere this creates is caught out on the tripwire that is 'Arma Gideon'. Although this track uses some classic vocal samples (which are noticeable by their absence across the rest of the LP) they're backed by a groove that oscillates between the annoying and the plain silly! But this seems to be just a temporary lapse in quality, followed as it is with 'Ocean Spray'. This one takes a simpler, sparser approach to vibe creation. But the best is saved till last, both the high speed drum & space of 'Funk 48' which leads into the closer 'Plastic Paradise' prove that different tracks from this album are equally DJable in all forward-thinking club environments. This is truly a cathartic album, and perfectly illustrates that which anyone who's often conscious from dusk will dawn will already know: confusing, dark, distorted passages can be framed either end with moments of wonder. 7/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine