Cargo Records

Molten Membrane

Wexford-born Dublin resident Ed Devane has become an increasingly familiar name in the electronic music community, both at home and abroad. Having appeared on a plethora of edgy bass-enthused labels like Touchin’ Bass, Spacebar Sentiments, !Kaboogie and Mantrap, Ed has found favour with many of the globe’s most daring DJs and tastemakers, from veterans like Andrea Parker to nu-skool pioneers like Hudson Mohawke.

Separate to his popularity as a producer, Ed’s live performances have been equally recognised, for an unusual delivery of explosive results. While Ed’s music has crept onto many dancefloor labels, his debut album ‘Molten Membrane’ displays something far more complete than just an awareness of the club: a trip through ambient, hip hop tempo melancholy, dub, industrial and into the fiercer bone-shaking attacks that have become his trademark, Ed’s knack for creepy, noisy, tension filled music is on full display, as is his disregard for set tempos or stagnant looped patterns within tracks.

A striking feature throughout ‘Molten Membrane’ are the (home-made) zither layers that loom, creating a strange mixture of both discordant and harmonious high points – perhaps signaling how equally influential bands like Sonic Youth or My Bloody Valentine are to Ed’s production, as any of the beatmakers he has drawn inspiration from in the past.

Also featured on the album is Scurvy Lass, who contributes her voice to some of the album’s highlight tracks – in particular, the ten-minute tour-de-force of ‘Brain Your Melt’. While Ed’s musical ear and unflinching hunger for sonic chaos are apparent, ‘Molten Membrane’ is an album that focuses as much on imaginative production and the songwriter’s craft as it does on brutal abrasion and rhythmic density, and should prove a must for anyone already equally intoxicated by Various Production’s pastoral folkisms and Cloaks’ head-bending psyco-delia.