oOoOO

Without Your Love

There's still affection to be found for Without Your Love, even if it is entombed in a cavernous demonic ribcage buried deep underground; this isn't going to be the kind of party-startin', rip-roarin' thrill ride to pre-drink to.

In Without Your Love he shows that he’s evolved from sinister experimentalist to a creator of powerful and highly original songs.

If you’re a fan of melted inversions of pop tropes then there’s ephemeral thrills for the taking here. If nothing else, it’s proof that the king of all flash-in-the-pan fads ought not to be written off just yet. 

While there are certainly times on Without Your Love where Greenspan’s over-application of eerie temperaments and lofty layers of sampling can start to drag ... these rarely detract from what is, at its core, a fascinating, contemplative and forward-thinking collection.

There’s no doubt that ‘Without Your Love’ is a difficult listen. You can be left feeling drained and exhausted after listening. What is clear, though, that if you give yourself over to it it is incredibly rewarding.

While oOoOO doesn’t display the sheer discomfiting power of a Haxan Cloak, the emotive abilities of a Balam Acab, or the rhythmic intensity of an Evian Christ, Without Your Love pulls from all of them and leaves with a solid, worthwhile listen.

While, overall, this is the strongest collection we’ve seen from oOoOO, it’s still difficult to tell what direction he’s trying to lead us in. 

On this, his first album proper, Dexter is basically in much the same position as all the other bedroom-production schmoes, tinkering with the same cracked software.