Album Review: Wet Will Always Dry by Blawan

Blawan's long-awaited debut album is full of the suspenseful, banging techno he's been known for since the early 2010s. His sound has changed dramatically during that timespan, however. First associated with the post-dubstep scene, then lumped in with an industrial techno revival along with producers like Perc, his work since 2015 has focused on modular synthesizers, resulting in some of his most daring sound design.

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Two minutes into "Careless," the second song on Blawan's debut album, Wet Will Always Dry, something unexpected happens: The UK techno don's voice wafts into the mix, his airy tone suggesting a Belle and Sebastian B-side blown across the festival field. For a producer whose best-known song--2012's monstrous "Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?"--hangs off a distorted vocal hook that hints at murder, the contrast is eye-opening. It introduces a rejuvenating tinge of vulnerability into Blawan's sometimes stony techno.

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For many electronic music producers, once you've finished toiling at a selection of tracks, there is the immediate desire to get those beats out into the wild. It stands to reason: after spending hours crouched at your studio consoles, crafting what you hope are perfect dancefloor weapons, you want people to hear the fruits of you labour. When it comes to making the album, however, said producer will often start 'experimenting', using the opportunity to stretch their artistic chops and expanding their palette beyond the 4/4 beat matrix.

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