Back in April 2012 I wrote the following

The future used to be sold to us as a fine shiny utopia, a pristine world where age is itself a thing of the past.

The new future being played out for us on Sendai’s album Geotope speaks only of a time after decay, after erosion, even after echoes are finally fading.

Consider that to be the opening of the 1st chapter of the book of Sendai. The chapter where the scene is set and synopsis is laid out before you.

Sendai are the two man team of Yves De Mey and Peter Van Hoesen. Both very well established producers in their own right and who now head up their own label Archives Interieures, with this being the second release to come from it following De Meys own Frisson album at the end of 2013. It’s here that the story continues.

Chapter 2 – A Smaller Divide in which Sendai really let rip. The opening moments of Capstan sound like it’s about to collapse before it even gets going. But then it happens. A rhythm that sounds like it has been bolted and welded together holds aloft a bassline, one that’s going to shake the whole structure apart. This is music that Transformers play while hunting Terminators. Which is where Anti-Jupiter comes in – metallic footsteps following us further into the unknown.

The whole of A Smaller Divide is angular and awkward. I know that sounds like I don’t like it but that could not be further from the truth, in fact it has so many layers, twists and turns that I find I have to listen to it right to the end every time I put it on. I loved Geotope and I believe A Smaller Divide is every bit its equal. It’s an album that follows its predecessor perfectly, yet creates more questions than answers.