Babe, Terror – Knights EP

Sao Paolo's Babe, Terror are a little bit like the sonic equivalent of a Magic Eye poster. At first you stare and stare at the minimal, stripped down, effects-drenched likes of lifantastic I and savagestic with a muted indifference, failing to see any patterns emerge from the miasma. Then, all of a sudden, forms leap out – vocal snatches are looped, reversed and abused, while cold, reverb-drenched synths and washes of abstract guitar noise swoop and glitch in intricate, fractal patterns.

This is bedroom music, without a doubt – each track is a sonic adventure based on a handful of repeated, mutating phrases. In the hands of lesser producers, this could feel reductive or limited, but Babe, Terror manage to create a fragile, reverent atmosphere which grows in the listener's mind with each listen. Far from being self-indulgent avant-noise, the atmosphere they create is a retro-futurist, lo-fi take on ambient techno and shoegaze which draws you in, eventually leaving you rapt and fascinated with the fine detail of the intricate soundscapes they create. [Bram Gieben]