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Pessimist has never been afraid to push the boundaries of what might loosely be referred to as drum ’n’ bass, but never has he been so willing to deviate as on this new EP for Osiris.

The record opens with ‘New Age’ — a hypnotic pulse that gradually layers up over crawling beats, before disintegrating into the glacial ambience of ‘Kabadaro’, with its inner-rainforest atmospherics and barely-there rhythms. Flipping sides, the eponymous ‘Austerity’ scurries along with nervous energy and hi-hats that offer the only glimpse into the artist’s junglist past, before JK Flesh steps in to serve up an utterly brutal reconstruction of ’New Age’. Finally, everything is brought to a close in the shape
of ‘Progression’, a short-and-not-partiuclarly-sweet drone that feels like the whole tale collapsing in on itself, returning — almost — to the sepulchral tone the EP opened with.

If you had Pessimist pegged as an artist comfortable exploring the outer reaches of bass music, consider this release affirmation that he's well and truly crossed the frontier — and that the five cuts here represent the newest transmissions sent home from this unknown and beguiling territory.