Delay Works by Ensemble 1
Tracklist
1. | Distorted Fades | 9:53 |
2. | Drums & Delay Loops | 17:25 |
3. | Submerged Harmonics | 23:22 |
Credits
released December 1, 2023
Joe Potts – Guitar (Tracks 1, 2)
Tom Way – Drums (Tracks 1, 2), Bass guitar (Track 3)
Tracks 1, 2 mixed and mastered by Benjamin Guenther
Track 3 mixed by Tom Way, mastered by Alessio Garavello
Artwork by Marta Ptaszkiewicz ©
Music written by Tom Way 2017-2019
Special thanks to Elaine Wolvey, Lee Starkey,
Matt McCartney, Kathleen & Peter Way
Halfmeltedbrain Records 2023
Ensemble 1 ℗ & © 2023
www.ensemble1.net
“Delay Works is not like anything else, and while that might not be too much of a surprise to those who have experienced Ensemble 1 before, it is notable that this is, completely, its own thing. A surreal example of auditory impressions, crafted around the mindset of minimalism, and best experienced with a completely open mind.”
– 9/10 Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life
“As the title ‘Delay Works’ suggests, delay effects are used throughout the entirety of their new album. These delay effects, combined with the slow progression of each track, create a uniquely seamless flow. Despite how gradually each track morphs, there remains a thrilling speed to the guitars and drums that keeps each track captivating. It's like watching an epic domino run unfold.”
– Music Related Junk
“I have no idea where to place Ensemble 1 in the great pantheon of Extreme music. No-one can deny that they are an incredibly extreme band, but not with heaviness. Their sheer, bloody-minded vision doesn’t create songs. It creates huge, glittering soundscapes that are shiny and clean and futuristic and streamlined and polished to such a shine that they melt things when sunlight shines directly on them. They are hundreds of metres of pristine white concrete over which endless armies of impeccably turned-out troops march in perfect synchronicity…”
– Ever-Metal
“It’s a miracle that Ensemble 1 are able to stop. Delay Works is an album about repetitious rock minimalism, but also about the inexorable forward drive of the 6/8 rhythm, which lands in the goldilocks zone between downbeat emphasis and the sensation of hypnotically spiralling. The result is ecstatic self-perpetuation; the gradual subsidence of alternative routes, the energetic entrenchment of the same circular path, always back to the start, never losing power.”
– ATTN:Magazine
“Ensemble 1 waste no time running circles around you with the hypnotic experimental soundscapes of their sophomore album Delay Works”
– Tinnitist
“The sculptural, compositional elements of [Drums and Delay Loops] suggest atompunk visions of the future that border on the absurd. Each repetition and variation forming a layer in a concentric grid, an interlocking segment in a process of serial fabrication producing lightweight, yet durable components; an ambitious folly of interplanetary engineering as impressive as it is impractical, like 3D-printing an express elevator to Mars.”
– Aeternal Flux II
“On their latest release, Delay Works, the duo comprising of Joe Potts and Tom Way create the kind of pandemonium of, say, Lightning Bolt, with a series of splintered noisescapes that have you ferreting through your dusty CD collection for a long overdue Battles phase.”
– Sun 13
"With minimalism, an experimental approach to composition, and focusing on percussion, these 3 instrumental pieces create a hypnotic soundscape that is truly mesmerising, and a hallucinogenic aural trip. It may be challenging for new listeners but once engaged with the unconventional sound, it is highly rewarding."
– Loud Enough? Magazine
Joe Potts – Guitar (Tracks 1, 2)
Tom Way – Drums (Tracks 1, 2), Bass guitar (Track 3)
Tracks 1, 2 mixed and mastered by Benjamin Guenther
Track 3 mixed by Tom Way, mastered by Alessio Garavello
Artwork by Marta Ptaszkiewicz ©
Music written by Tom Way 2017-2019
Special thanks to Elaine Wolvey, Lee Starkey,
Matt McCartney, Kathleen & Peter Way
Halfmeltedbrain Records 2023
Ensemble 1 ℗ & © 2023
www.ensemble1.net
“Delay Works is not like anything else, and while that might not be too much of a surprise to those who have experienced Ensemble 1 before, it is notable that this is, completely, its own thing. A surreal example of auditory impressions, crafted around the mindset of minimalism, and best experienced with a completely open mind.”
– 9/10 Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life
“As the title ‘Delay Works’ suggests, delay effects are used throughout the entirety of their new album. These delay effects, combined with the slow progression of each track, create a uniquely seamless flow. Despite how gradually each track morphs, there remains a thrilling speed to the guitars and drums that keeps each track captivating. It's like watching an epic domino run unfold.”
– Music Related Junk
“I have no idea where to place Ensemble 1 in the great pantheon of Extreme music. No-one can deny that they are an incredibly extreme band, but not with heaviness. Their sheer, bloody-minded vision doesn’t create songs. It creates huge, glittering soundscapes that are shiny and clean and futuristic and streamlined and polished to such a shine that they melt things when sunlight shines directly on them. They are hundreds of metres of pristine white concrete over which endless armies of impeccably turned-out troops march in perfect synchronicity…”
– Ever-Metal
“It’s a miracle that Ensemble 1 are able to stop. Delay Works is an album about repetitious rock minimalism, but also about the inexorable forward drive of the 6/8 rhythm, which lands in the goldilocks zone between downbeat emphasis and the sensation of hypnotically spiralling. The result is ecstatic self-perpetuation; the gradual subsidence of alternative routes, the energetic entrenchment of the same circular path, always back to the start, never losing power.”
– ATTN:Magazine
“Ensemble 1 waste no time running circles around you with the hypnotic experimental soundscapes of their sophomore album Delay Works”
– Tinnitist
“The sculptural, compositional elements of [Drums and Delay Loops] suggest atompunk visions of the future that border on the absurd. Each repetition and variation forming a layer in a concentric grid, an interlocking segment in a process of serial fabrication producing lightweight, yet durable components; an ambitious folly of interplanetary engineering as impressive as it is impractical, like 3D-printing an express elevator to Mars.”
– Aeternal Flux II
“On their latest release, Delay Works, the duo comprising of Joe Potts and Tom Way create the kind of pandemonium of, say, Lightning Bolt, with a series of splintered noisescapes that have you ferreting through your dusty CD collection for a long overdue Battles phase.”
– Sun 13
"With minimalism, an experimental approach to composition, and focusing on percussion, these 3 instrumental pieces create a hypnotic soundscape that is truly mesmerising, and a hallucinogenic aural trip. It may be challenging for new listeners but once engaged with the unconventional sound, it is highly rewarding."
– Loud Enough? Magazine