Dividing the pulse
Factory Floor’s new lineup assigns percussion to two players. Gabe Gurnsey handles drums, percussion and electronics; Joe Ward supplies additional percussion. Nik Colk Void completes the trio on modular synthesiser and vocals. That division of work interests me more than the decade between albums. It makes rhythm available as a space shared by several musicians rather than something organised around a single drummer.[1]
The extra player does not establish that the music is denser or better. Additional percussion can reinforce an existing pulse or create a separate answering line. The arranging question concerns the spaces each part leaves, rather than the head count. With Gurnsey also handling electronics and Void playing synthesiser, measuring Ward’s contribution simply by the number of sounds would be limiting. The division of forces makes the interaction between rhythmic layers a useful object of attention.[1]
From pairing to sequence
The released pairing is Continuation and One Trip. The announcement characterises the first as expansive and euphoric and the second as darker and oriented toward the dancefloor. Those are the descriptions accompanying the release, rather than my listening impressions. The album sequence provides a separate comparison: Continuation opens, while One Trip comes fourth, with Big Brain and DruuuuM between them. Pairing two songs in a single release does not make them adjacent in the album.[1]
For me, that separation is a reason to resist reducing the album to two contrasting songs. The ten-track sequence establishes a longer structure than the adjectives attached to individual tracks. Phantasy Sound has announced November 27 for the digital album and December 4 for vinyl; the two songs available now and the complete album operate at different scales. My musical question applies to both: how is shared rhythmic space divided within a track, and how does sequencing alter the way that division is heard? Personnel and order open the return story onto specific questions about musical form.[1]