Sticking an underscore on the end of an EP name seems somewhat hollow at best, and this neat but ultimately meaningless gesture typifies the character of An Omen_ EP. Having to check back every few minutes to check that Spotify hasn’t randomly skipped to another band is never indicative of coherence, and on a record of just six tracks this is not easily appraised as variation in musical texture.

The one coherent note on the record is Mariqueen Maandig’s vocal, whispering along with each track while managing to stand out. While this ubiquity is to be applauded, it brings with it a generic veneer of pop-production which renders her words and mumbles somewhat characterless, as if these bites of industrial minimalism have been chemically treated to render them down just that little bit more. The one track unembellished by this is ‘The loop closes’, and it is much better for it. While the opening is reminiscent of every terrible comic-spying pursuit scene ever put into film, it descends into a trippy layer-cake of electronic beats and pulses which is clearly highly wrought. As a bassline builds alongside the vocal that is literally “coming round again,” it does feel like the loop has finally closed and an autonomous piece has been created.

Sadly, the rest of the EP does not fit this impressive profile that Trent Reznor et al are clearly capable of creating. The sparseness of each track seems disappointingly unconsidered, in stark contrast to masters of minimalistic arrangement like The xx. Opener ‘Keep It Together’ meanders in direct opposition to its title, but the rebellion is quiet, smothered, a tentative gasp of a song that never goes anywhere and cannot be saved by an admittedly tight piano/vocal/bass arrangement. ‘Ice Age’ loses the machined/futuristic vibe altogether in favour of a mystifyingly happy, somewhat saccharine tone completely at odds with the rest of the EP, with an infectious acoustic guitar bop that belongs on a pop tune. ‘The sleep of reason produces monsters’ features ethereal, Sigur Ros piano and ‘speaking in tongues’ channels tribal sounds and ominous, scratchy tones.

All in all, An Omen_ is technically excellent but creatively defunct- wasted talent abounds, and it is frankly sad that more attention to tone and atmosphere would surely have produced a much better effort than this androgynous pastiche of dissonance.