Raffertie – Visual Acuity EP

At precisely one minute in to the opening track on the Visual Acuity EP, Raffertie lets rip. Preceded briefly by a single, modulated synth hit, madcap percussion bursts from the seams with a schizo assortment of disparate sounds and voices. Raffertie has rejoined the party, and in case you were worried, he’s most definitely not brought any dubstep with him.

As you might expect from a Ninja Tune release, Ben Stefanski’s four track, 20 minute EP is very much of the ‘whatever works’ school of musical thought, impossible (and needless) to pigeonhole, but generally experimental, electronics heavy and thought provoking. Raffertie veers towards the more melodic and beat oriented of the spectrum, second track ‘You Could Be Forgiven For Thinking That’ like a chill-out track having occasional spasms. Aforementioned, titular opener is characterised by dystopian sounding synth lines and basso rumblings and ‘Twitch (it Grows & Grows)’ and finally ‘Mimetic’ dial it back down to more ambient yet still energetic surge-and-fade electronica.

In a strange way, this EP feels like part of the legacy of older-skool breakbeats in the vein of Pepe Deluxe, but put through the wringer by Squarepusher or dismantled by James Holden. No juxtaposition of artists will adequately summate Raffertie’s sound, but I think it’s fair to say he owes more to the tradition of IDM and minimalist breaks than he does mid-saturated dubstep. Also, whilst feeling very much at home in the Ninja Tune stable, this young producer is actually making relatively accessible electronica (so far) and so I can very much recommend Visual Acuity; even if the left-field label initially might put you off.

At time hyper, at others blissfully restrained, the tempo and pacing of this four-track is delectable. Whilst harder to maintain over a full-length, such mastery over an EP is promising, and exciting, and I can’t wait to hear how Raffertie further expands his borders to encompass new dynamics and cheerfully play around his old ones. Just on the right side of strange, Visual Acuity shows Stefanski to have just as keen an ear for blips, beats and breaks.