UMOR REX

Maar, the duo of Michael Vallera (Immune’s Cleared and solo works in Opal Tapes) and Joseph Clayton Mills (Haptic), returns with Absolute Delay. The title, defined as the interval between transmission and reception of a signal, encapsulates their aesthetic of fissures, broken patterns, and spatial dislocation. Expanding on the palette that characterized their debut Ceto (Umor Rex 2014), Maar draws even more deeply on their influences—in particular, the warped atmospherics of dub and the severity of minimalist composition—to create something that defies easy classification. Translucent drones and traces of field recordings are deployed to create shifting degrees of focus, while flickering electronics are pieced together in a disorienting mosaic. The end result is impossible to locate, an exploration of a landscape that is alternately claustrophobic and mesmerizing.