Peverelist - Pulse EP
Peverelist has been well-established in music for many years, starting in the Bristol dubstep scene and creating their own label Punch Drunk, to showcase the city's talent. Unfortunately, their genre-bending music would often see itself relegated to the fringes. Still, as Peverelist's sound developed and dubstep's popularity grew, more and more people were attracted to the off-kilter sound. Peverelist’s unique take on dubstep eventually boiled over into something reminiscent of bass music, with fans jumping on the label of Bristolian techno. As a result, the enigmatic label head took on the challenge of creating Livity Sound Recordings; a place to cultivate and curate this new form of dance music. Through Livity Sounds comes Peverelist's latest release, the Pulse EP (2023), blends bass, techno, rave and dub elements.
'Pulse I' is defined by its polyrhythms, which are constant throughout the track. Peverelist uses a light sprinkling of hi-hat percussion, letting it ring above the busy synths. They then add to the pallet of the polyrhythm, but unfortunately, this stays relatively stagnant. By this point, we are introduced to a gorgeous chord sequence. The mix of longer and shorter chords that change on the jazzy off-beats complement the track and is one of the best parts. The extra sounds, sometimes referred to as ear candy, play throughout the track; high-frequency sweeps, odd bits of percussion here and there, and the nautical-sounding radar blip do a lot to fluff up the track, but I feel at points it's not quite hitting. The continuous polyrhythms don't add any rhythmic complexity and hold the track back from being that memorable. As a result, it's memorable for that one trick.
Instantly more rhythmically complex, 'Pulse II' is Peverelist channelling garage influences into a Bristolian-techno vibe. Airy chords play across the top of the track, helping to create space and add some levity. Most Peverelist tracks are low-end focused, rhythmic and groovy, of course, but when listening on less-than-ideal speakers or out and about, the rich low-end can be lost, so it's nice to have something up top. Speaking of the bass, it's rounded, rich and bouncing. However, the track seems structurally empty when that bass is taken away.
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Peverelist - Pulse EP
Starting off quite strong, 'Pulse III' has a distinct melody, almost like it's played through a PVC pipe organ saturated in a transit delay. Peverelist allows this to be the bedrock of the track. The organ is complemented beautifully by the bass that comes in at about a minute and a half. The bass cuts between being percussive and rhythmic or peaking and troughing like an undulating pulsating sine wave. It almost feels like you're being abducted to the mother ship. Cooperation between the pulsating bass and the pipe organ gives the whole track an extra-terrestrial vibe. 'Pulse III' lets you get into the groove as it switches from a two-step into a straighter four-by-four beat. As we reach the song's natural climax, Peverelist kicks the danceability into overdrive as the ride cymbal, and hi-hats fizzes in the background, adding that extra energy.
Closing us out is the strongest track on the EP, 'Pulse IV'. Peverelist introduces this elastic synth that caught me off guard with its vocality. It sounds like an alien laying down some absolutely killer bars. The melody's construction sounds more like a flow than a regular melodic line. The whole track feels like it's being created for the club. The move to more cookie-cutter structures works better in most respects and works incredibly well as Peverelist curates these aspects of the track in great detail. The bassline is simple but catchy. It sounds like something from back in the dubstep days. A slight influence of reggae and dub culture is mixed into that heavy tech-house sound can be heard. This was only possible due to the basic form of the drums, but Peverelist makes up for this with a unique sample selection and drastic variations between each section of the track. I really can't get over that alien vocal. It just adds so much character to the track.
What's happened here is Peverelist has attempted to fit the unique brand of music they're known for into several different genres. With the first two tracks, I found minimalism an issue in some parts, whereas in 'Pulse III' and 'Pulse IV' everything seemed more focused. There's less emphasis on applying the Peverelist sound to other genres and more focus on taking genre tropes and using that logic to the Peverelist sound.
Tracklist:
Pulse I
Pulse II
Pulse III
Pulse IV
Label: Livity Sound Recordings (2023)
