3 out of 5

Label: Weme Records

Produced by: Capsule Network (?)

It goes a bit more for the gut than Colundi Interception, making it a bit more directly accessible, but by the same token, Capsule Network’s Colundi-structured second entry gets hung up on how cool its beats are, leading to some stalled tracks.

Now, it should be noted that those beats are, by and large, fantastic, and it’s likely that if this was my first exposure to CN, my praise would be less restrained, but the rating has to stand in comparison: Colundi Interception, while perhaps a bit more directly Aleksi Perälä-derivative than this followup – awash in spacey acid vs. CI 2’s dancefloor IDM – it also very much invested in that sound; it defined a full identity within the confines of that EP. While this followup takes a gigantic, rave-up swing with opener Karhu’s swooping and return beats, setting us up for something equally, but differently, defined, its next few cuts – though centered around equally grabbing setups – don’t play around as much as Karhu, or enrich the sound particularly. They are really good songs, just, to my ear, forefronting their big ol’ electro beats over exploration. It seems telling that the album only really starts to find a unique vibe again on its closer, Channel Interference, which is a much more minimalized percussion workout, preceded by the creepy ambience of 33hz Initiation Sequence.

Now, if we follow these track titles somewhat, this shift could be purposeful (leading into the inevitable Colundi Interception 3), but if we set “narrative” aside and just take the EP for what it is, we have several bangers that are limited in scope, and then a final, fascinating bit of experimentation on the way out. Again, without the preceding comparison of the first CI, this would come across more favorably, so it will be interesting to see how Capsule Network’s musical journey plays out over subsequent releases.