
The British producer and DJ has already released four albums in three years, but AEG’s first for Radio 1 is even more imposing. Her voice and arrangements are in a dense, deep tone, while tracks sound like they’re being strummed out of the ground on the back of a truck. “Reverance” is a jutting piece of techno, the kind you could hear from the back of a lorry. “And Then There Was Light” is a meditative dance track, with sirens and traffic cams wavering over dense dubstep beats. “Ebony Edge” is about as low-key as you’ll hear, with a percussive character in place of a drumbeat, and the beat is so stutteringly quiet you can almost hear her breathing.
The tracks are less repetitive than you might think, and the production is more cohesive. The odd moment is when her drum beats shake like stairs, on “In The Fade Of The Fado”. The production is sometimes grating, but AEG’s voice and effects are more than just that – they manage to be evocative of the moments when she’s on stage. “Reverance” has a nightmarish vibe, but it also has a nightmarish beauty. “Ebony Edge” is a poetic ballad for after-party nights.
The album has two singles in its first seven weeks, and each of them is a gem. The voices of Sarah Harding and Eleanor Roosevelt don’t sound out of place, and the effects-laden “Reverance” is a beautiful piece of dancefloor music, as verbal performances and physical contact between instruments make sense in terms of how it was played.
The production is just on the low end, and Harding’s voice is also very beautiful. It is an extremely beautiful record, and it has a lovely, bittersweet quality.