Bracken We Know About the Need

• Words: Patrick Sisson
• Label: Anticon
• XLR8R Rating: 7/10

Former Hood member Chris Adams has created a hypnotic blend of cold, isolating soundscapes and shambling beats on his debut album as Bracken. It's fitting that his big entrance comes courtesy of Anticon, since the droning vocals and twitching songs fit in perfectly with the label's leftfield sensibilities. While Adams seems wed to one style–junkyard electronics so lulling and pastoral they take on a hint of dread–he executes it well. The emphatic guitar twang of "Fight or Flight" and the tumbling "We Know About the Need" recall the frenzy lurking in many Caribou tracks.