Errors – New Relics EP

Glasgow three-piece Errors return with mini-album New Relics. At eight tracks and forty minutes long, though, “mini” seems a little superfluous, making one wonder what their next release will be. A three hour epic, perhaps? One continuous track? If this release s is anything to go by, the outfit could take us anywhere…

Signed to compatriots Mogwai’s label Rock Action Records, this is another spin on the squelch-synth electro-disco carousel. Although the rotation of a carousel is perhaps too simplistic of a comparison for Errors’ choice of track structure. New Relics lacks the immediate draw of their previous release Have Some Faith in Magic, instead providing a more expansive journey into an alternative, futuristic anti-reality, blurring the edges of the everyday. It’s an album that offers more with each play, rewarding the listener with the chance to submerge themselves further into the tie-dye vortex.

The dramatic stirrings of opener ‘Engine Holmes’ is akin to the soundtrack to a high-end laser quest, where players glide around in couture rather than running in boiler suits. The perfect atmosphere setter, it gives way into ‘Ammaboa Glass’, which suggests an Oriental sound through the deployment of parallel fourths, underpinned with a sparse but driving drum sound.

On their previous album in particular, Errors favoured the long, journeying tracks, with most clocking in at over four minutes. However, on New Relics they’ve managed to create that same feel, yet with notably shorter tracks. There’s a slower, more relaxed pace across the album, as well as a feeling of space, using thicker synth lines, but less of them. Each strand of melody or sound is made to stand out, morphing into each other to create subtleties and complexities, used to great effect on ‘Grangehaven’.

The push and pull of ‘Gros-Bon-Ange’ almost acts as an interlude, offering a segue which winds up towards the final two tracks. ‘White Infinity’ gives a relieving, euphoric feel, with a more bulked-up sound than previous tracks, signalling perhaps the impending arrival at the destination of the New Relics journey. ‘Pegasus’ seals the deal, re-establishing a sense of calm and equilibrium, awash with sweeping vocals, dreamy three-note synth lines, before giving way to a perkier, awakened sound.

A sidestep for Errors, away from the dance floor urgency of some of their previous tracks, but a step into a deeper vortex of sound, creating a hypnotising state in which to immerse yourself further into their kaleidoscopic world.

Listen to New Relics