Harking from a country not short on wide open spaces and never ending skies, the music of Cousin makes perfect sense when viewed through that lens. Hot on the heels of 2024’s ‘....bits (1234)’ and before that his debut on Vancouver's ever excellent Mood Hut (‘HomeSoon’ in 2023), ‘Wake the Town’ straddles the EP/LP chasm with six tracks of intricately crafted electronic soundscapes and arresting musical shapes.

Released on his own Moonshoe Records, based out of Sydney, Cousin’s music is a little hard to define in conventional terms. There are hints of dub, of course, but these tunes defy simple genre categorisation, creating atmosphere and emotion in equal measure. Take the title track, echoes of distorted voices and tabla-esque drums mean for a dream/trance listening experience, deeply hypnotic in its delivery. ‘PicL’ meanwhile takes a more front foot approach, drums are more prominent, and the outback influenced backing drives the music forward as the bass rumbles on.

‘King Tide’ rolls things back into an altogether more chilling mood, as the submerged synth clashes push up against one another, the music ebbs and flows as the title suggests. ‘No King’ switches back to a more accelerated beat, shades of dubby technoid noises and shuffling drum sounds are all present, but this is far removed from any kind of business techno. Next up, ‘Hourglass’ opens up the sound into a more expansive dreamstate, lighter in mood than what has come before, but still with that persistent undercurrent of intensity. Finally ‘Lu’s Dub’ rounds off the record by suspending the flow with an ethereal delicacy by simply combining crackled effects and sweeps to cleanse the mind and bathe the spirit.

‘Wake the Town’ will be released on 20 February and available via Bandcamp.