Foundry Records Inaugural EP

Ben Swire‘s Equilibrium consists of four tracks that balance synthesized backdrops with pointilist percussion. On “Interim,” it’s a glitchy little rhythmic figure atop an aural swell. On “Departure,” it’s initially what sound like heavily echoed castanets atop a deep, building resonance. The EP is the first in a series of mid-length releases from Foundry, a San Francisco Bay area label run by musician Michael Bentley. Swire is an Amherst-educated musician who has recorded with, among others, Riz Maslen (Neotropic). Swire has a film composer’s way with extended moods (Equililbrium‘s fourth track is titled “Score”), and his compositions develop along narrative lines, moving from scene to scene with dramatic intent. On “Departure,” for example, those initial castanets develop first into drum’n’bass and later into a locomotive trance. As is Bentley’s plan, the EP length lends the release a compact conceptual certainty.