Autistici – Beneath Peaks [Zypheiron]

Sheffield resident David Newman is perhaps best known for his role as curator of the Audiobulb and Audiomoves labels. However, for around the past decade, Newman has also been creating music under the moniker Autistici and has released a slew of albums and EP’s on a veritable who’s-who of influential labels – such as 12k, Home Normal and Keshhhh, in addition to his own two imprints. Here he appears on Hibernate Recordings with Beneath Peaks, an album which proves Autistici’s ability to stand out from the crowd once again.
Newman has previously professed an interest in exploring the interplay between the inner and outer world, in addition to including the minutest details of a particular sound. Though an artists opinion of their own music isn’t always the best place to get an unvarnished perspective, Newman’s years running his labels has clearly given him the ability of a bird’s eye view on his own music as this encapsulates his approach perfectly.
Beneath Peaks kicks off with Asleep Beneath Trees and environmental sounds take center stage, causing this listener to presume the course of the album thus set. However, as Newman works through the miniature ambient wash of Styx and the piano tones of Aidele, he produces such varied styles and sounds that one can’t help but be impressed. Sometimes these disparate elements combine and at other times the artist is content to let them take their own course, but the vision as a whole remains cohesive.
Like virtually any album, Beneath Peaks contains some territory which has been trodden both by the artist himself and others too, but rarely are so many eclectic ideas brought together with such taste, and herein lies the artist’s talent. Newman reveals himself to be somebody who is a genuine lover of all music and this depth of knowledge transforms an album which could so easily have been merely “good” into something which should not be overlooked.
Beneath Peaks is released in a limited edition 250 CD copies and digital download.