Like bushwalking on a different planet, Wake The Town is a trip through serene yet unpredictable textures — calm and mystical at times, scintillating and alien at other points.
For some time now, Sydney producer Cousin has been writing music within the realm of dub techno, whilst incorporating elements of prog and ambient. His work invites a sense of enigma and introspection, driving one to seek a deeper meaning behind it all. Cousin is at the forefront of this sound locally, self-releasing under his label Moonshoe Records and appearing internationally on labels such as NAFF and Wisdom Teeth.
Wake The Town’s eponymous track feels therapeutic, gliding through natural percussion and glimpses of dubbed out vocals. Cousin then picks up the pace on ‘PicL’, with proggy stabs reverberating into the distance, its rhythms spiralling into a relative unease. On ‘King Tide’, icy beginnings give way to the subtle gleams of synths twinkling above.
Cousin’s debut full-length has some allusions to serious matters: ‘Hourglass’ on the ephemeral nature of things in the world, ‘Lu’s Dub’ in dedication to the death of his dog Luna – but Cousin explains his intention is not to create something dark.
“I think it's awesome when people don't have too much context personally with my work,” he tells me. “I think that lends to more mystery and people kind of receiving something different … it’s more interesting when people figure it out for themselves or respond to it in their own way, you know?”
Wake The Town turns and twists into surprising places, and maybe as Cousin says, it’s best to not know too much about what you’re listening to – but rather to let yourself be taken away by it.
Words by Johnny Lieu