Bicep ‘Isles’ review: trippy electronic tales that transcend the club world – NME

In the years since the rise of their 2009-born, disco-gem-uncovering Feel My Bicep blog and 2012s pumping breakthrough EP Vision Of Love, Bicep have transformed from underground house-head favourites to festival-headlining daytime-radio-infiltrating sculptors of emotive electronic anthems. Really, though, its what Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar had always been building towards.

The London-based Belfast duos melodious 2015 single Just teased at a more expansive style. But it was their multi-textured debut album released two years later via Ninja Tune and an unexpected top-20 chart hit that certified these deep-digging studio heads growing reputation as architects of introspective yet kaleidoscopic anthems.

Fast forward to 2021 and, with clubs still shut for obvious reasons, theyve retooled their second album to suit lockdown listening at home ahead of, theyve said, a much harder live version. Created in their keyboard and drum-filled London studio, Isles finds the DJs and producers again fusing atmosphere-building bleeps (the melancholic Cazenove) with infectious synth lines Fir elicits the eyes-glued rush of watching an edge-of-your-seat epic and feels as though it could explode at any moment.

Israeli artist Ofra Hazas Love Song forms the starting point for cathartic opener Atlas and eerie breakbeats rumbler Sundial, which samples Bollywood song Jab Andhera Hota Hai, provides a moment of near-ambient contemplation. This is an album that trades on Biceps early penchant for obscure vocal samples see also the eerie, vocal sample-led late-night trance anthem Apricots, a brilliant recent single.

Whats new this time around, though, is that the boys worked with other live singers and instrumentalists, adding another layer to their tried-and-tested formula. Icy-toned labelmate Clara La San appears twice: the London-based R&B star lends her voice to the movingly nostalgic trip of Saku and the heavy and futuristic X. Rever, meanwhile, carries a comparatively chilling energy, its chant-like vocal hovering hauntingly over a lightly shuffling mechanic techno beat and affecting cello playing from Canadian cellist and composer Julia Kent. Later, the sci-fi-infused synth whirrs of ominous closer Hawk run alongside Korean Tokyo-based artist Machnas faint voice, before things rush skywards one last time.

While many in the electronic scene have attempted to imitate Biceps signature sound, nobody builds melancholy into colourful trance and techno quite like these Irish mates. As they prove across Isles 10 intricately-crafted tracks (which were whittled down from more than 150 demos), few other artists can conjure up these much-missed moments of patiently rapturous rave ecstasy quite so artfully.

Release date: January 22Record label: Ninja Tune

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Bicep 'Isles' review: trippy electronic tales that transcend the club world - NME