Lore by Dyspal

From divergent musical backgrounds, Jules and Jordan, aka French duo Dyspal, joined forces in 2015, a meeting of minds where individual styles formed the heady Techno and Breaks concoction heard on Lore.

Over thirteen compositions, that would just about squeeze onto a CD, the journey undulates with a breathtaking variety and focus, jumping from dark and hard rhythms, like Wrong Treatment and Cops & Dogs, to Trance-inflected chuggers, like Exomorph and Broken Lullaby, to more experimental compositions like Alibi and Reckon. Tried and tested formulas are present and correct, notably the ubiquitous, insistent-kicking-bass-drum-pattern heard on Ain't Clockwise, and best appreciated on Anthony Rother's Omnitronic, and the Trance-fused melodic synth refrain on Exomorph, which rides a stadium peak time high like TMPLT's MARCH55 or Urbano's Brother. The overall balance is well-pitched with crowd-pleasing moments offset with more muscular workouts.

Five years in the making, the album still sounds fairly fresh, although the overly long 78 minute playing time could have been cut down by omitting Broken Lullaby and Wrong Treatment, which were previously released on their 2019 EP (also on Skryptöm).