Flume - Skin Companion EP

Flume
Skin Companion EP
2016
Spotify

After his wildly heralded album Skin blew up this year Flume has now released this accompanying EP which seeks to pickup where Skin left off and push the music even further. Where Skin was a much more focused piece the EP meanders and feels its way around. The sounds are similar but on the EP it seems to be much more disparate with very little in terms of a hard dance structure. You can recognize this easily as dance music, yet there is always something just slightly off. this helps make the music quite interesting, yet somehow unconnected. It is as if Flume wanted to really dive deep into the technical aspects of what He does. You are not getting the same Future Bass master as you have on previous releases instead Flume seems to be exploring his inner Aphex Twin, but never fully goes over that edge. The EP exists somewhere between the middle of experimental and dance never taking a hard stand one way or another. This often makes the record feel confusing and it is hard to get your bearings as the record skitters along.

"v" and "Heater" are the real standouts as they, despite having no words, almost feel like a love song. They unfolds and bloom right before your ears changing from odd percussion heavy tracks they began as into something swirling and quite beautiful at the end. As with all of Flume's albums production is always top notch and that does not change with this EP. It sounds absolutely meticulous but not in an overly obsessive way but in a more natural controlled brilliance. The EP unfortunately does not reach the same heights as Skin but it does have it's own very distinct charm to it. Clocking in at just over 15 minutes the time commitment really should not be an issue. The Skin Companion EP is not likely to go down as one of his best but it still shows that Flume is willing to take a risk and try something new.

6.8 out of 10