Current Value Flips the Script With “Different Path”

After blowing everyone away with the breakthrough video for his single “That Smile” and opening his new multimedia Sentinel tour with MethLab—as well as securing corresponding tracks on the Sentinel album, the Cause4Concern 20 Year Anniversary album, and the Blackout Best of 2018 album—it all wasn’t enough for Current Value this winter. To close out a massive, bass-fueled January, the mad German beat scientist has more D&B brain scrambles coming in the form of a new EP on Noisia’s Invisible imprint. Get ready for Searcher.

Since his Deadly Toys LP in late 2017, Current Value has been experimenting with melodic—and even sometimes vintage—synths, pairing them with heavy, modern beats. On Searcher, it appears Current Value has continued to tinker, finding even more synth-and-bass combos.

Each track on the package is a different study of how to combine styles, with the melodies, ambient sounds, and basslines all seeming to coalesce via different techniques. “Different Path” is one of the more unconventional approaches Current Value takes on this EP. The intro is more than two minutes long, as CV increasingly layers in synth sounds and ambient textures, with that section almost becoming a track of its own until an ambient-style break and long buildup introduce the actual D&B framework.

Once the main beat gets going, “Different Path” is simultaneously steppy and complex, with said beat being the shortest part of the track compared to the intro and the equally ambient, melodic outro. Because of this building effect, “Different Path” becomes very different, indeed. In harder D&B cuts, if there even is a melodic section, it’s usually relegated to a small part of the intro and then left behind in the dancefloor part of the track. With this building technique, however, Current Value is attempting to bring those other sounds forward and change the structure a bit to see how hard drum & bass can be reworked and appreciated in new ways—taking D&B down a “Different Path,” if you will.

There’s always something unique about Current Value’s work that’s hard to pinpoint, whether it’s the way he puts his tracks together, how they sound in clubs, or just the energy behind them. With “Different Path,” fans will get a rare glimpse into the inner workings of such a mastermind, hopefully appreciating even more the skill and emotion that went into making them.

Available February 1 via Invisible.

Buy Current Value’s Searcher EP here.

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