Isolate EP by Cleric x Setaoc Mass
Tight yin yang set from Techno pairing of Sam Coates and Jorden Hodgetts
Eight tracks they call an EP but at nearly forty minutes I prefer album, even if the format is a double 12". Like the immense Lockertmatik EP from last year, it's a slow starter that literally blossoms and transforms halfway through. And bearing in mind that this is a collaboration – between lifelong friends Jorden Hodgetts (Cleric) and Sam Coates (Setaoc Mass) – it sounds like a clear tale of two halves, with some Yin and Yang at play here.
Supporting my album angle, bookending the eight tracks we have a proper intro and outro. Psychedelic drug researcher Dr John Lilly provides us with the keys to unlock doors on Alterted States while Exploration X closes things in a suitably reflective mode. Inbetween we have three no-nonsense Techno floor fillers (all tight drums and minor flourishes - the Yin part) followed by three dazzling and melodius disruptors (the Yang part innit). The contrast is particularly striking when Madame Butterfly bats her clandestine wings, it's like a weary reveller opening the fire exit of a darkened club and eurphoric sun rays burst in and burn up the dancefloor.
- Rating: 7/10
- Listens: 12
- Highlight: Madame Butterfly
- Label: Clergy
- Release Date: 26th January 2018
Due for release on 26th January 2018 via Clergy, Isolate isn't the first collaboration between the two Mancunians, their first was Clerical Mass back in 2012 when they were each tentatively stepping into the dark Techno underground.