As horrifying and destabilizing as the pandemic was, time seems to evince that it also presented an opportunity for many to explore sides of themselves they previously had been unable to. The clichéd examples of this were the surge of new sourdough bakers, home improvement mavens, and amigurumi makers—the effects of all of which are still evident all over social media, farmers’ markets, and swap meets. Aside from those, however, as I’ve been reviewing blog submissions over these past few years, a story I keep hearing is how many musicians in bands took lockdown as an opportunity to start making music alone; and naturally, electronic music lends itself to working alone.

One such musician is Glance, an Irish-born artist living in Amsterdam. After years as a drummer in the Irish hardcore punk and metal scene, the lockdown allowed (forced) the time and mental space to pursue a long-held curiosity about electronic music production, particularly using modular gear and other hardware. Given their background as a drummer, the music that has resulted—the Temple EP—is thoroughly and pleasantly drum focused. Each of Temple‘s four tracks relies heavily on sequenced breakbeats — and with BPMs from 155 to 175, it’s all in the jungle and D&B universe. All the ingredients are there for an easy win-me-over: sharp, liberal use of open breaks; recondite vocal samples; a nice balance of glittery arpeggios and pads against repurposed jazz samples. The winner for me is definitely the EP’s closer “Cavalry” which trades all the reese and reverse bass for an almost-unnerving combination of subbass rumble and contrabass that underpins a tortured time stretched horn line and a disembodied voice that tells us “the kids are changing, and so has the music.” From the quality of this record, you’d never really suspect Glance is new to making this kind of music. The kids might be changing, and so might the music, but records like this demonstrate a course change can lead to welcome outcomes.

Temple is out now on bandcamp, or for streaming.

Glance – “Cavalry” (sc)

Glance – “Temple” (sc)