Reflexes by /!/ /-/ /<

NHK yx Koyxen returns to DFA with Reflexes, a vivid, thorough revisiting of Exit Entrance, his 2017 debut for the label. Reflexes reimagines key songs and motifs from the first album, combining them with new material to create an entirely unique body of sonic permutations.

Exit Entrance represented a subtle change in Matsunaga’s prolific discography (including releases for Mille Plateaux, Important, Pan and Diagonal) – the tracks held a newfound warmth and sincerity, while also retaining his revolutionary techno weirdness. Tiny Mix Tapes described the record as “intricate, lush electronic songs with simple titles that make you feel feelings,” while Boomkat praised its “lucidly crisp set of breakbeat techno and electro tricks.”

Reflexes is warmer, more rich in texture and tone than Exit Entrance. Perhaps this is due to its emphasis on spontaneity and live hardware recordings when combined with the original tracks. In the process of recording the album, Kohei was not able to save any audio stems, so when asked about the possibility of making a few remixes, he instead created new iterations of Exit Entrance from scratch.

Anyone familiar with Kohei’s training as an architect could invoke an ability of reconstruction here, but his process acts more as a testament to the way he is willing and able to make hard sounds malleable. Reflexes is both delicate and sharp, a shapeshifting maze of mood and melody, an ideal reflection of his past work and what is to come.

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