A self-titled record can be significant, signalling a reset or autobiographical candour. Neither quite applies here, if only because UK electronic producer Darren J Cunningham – the title is his name in Ukrainian – doesn’t conform to many norms. Originally more club-oriented, Actress long ago ditched banging tunes for works where retro gamer electronics met aqueous dystopian unease across many types of beats – or, in the case of his first album this year, Statik, very little percussion at all.
Moody, restless deconstructions remain Cunningham’s shapeshifting signature, but his move to the Norwegian avant-garde label Smalltown Supersound leans into abstraction. Staticky transmissions remain a reference on this 54-minute mixtape – an evolving piece of sound art first aired via Resident Advisor in May and now getting a physical release. (Actress describes it, referring to the artist Georges Braque, as “a collage”.)
If anything, Дарен Дж. Каннінгем chimes most with another evolving, sub-hour mix, Actress’s 88 album (2020). An elegant, recurrent piano arpeggio anchors the opening section alongside a distant, muffled techno pulse; found sounds and vocal samples come in and out of focus. Unexpected moments of blitheness or syncopated effervescence disrupt Actress’s downbeat reputation. As ever, textures are foremost on this latest swerve from one of our most consistently inscrutable margin-walkers.
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