Relocating to London, Yu Su has also switched labels, putting her latest long-player in the hands of Sheffield’s Short Span. The set, titled Foundry, sees the DJ / producer further develop her complex sound design. Creating mini musical worlds rich with swirling swooning synthetic strings, dub techno textures and bionic bass. The latter mutating, booming, buzzing, rumbling. 

A Jewel, a collaboration with Miyako Koda, of Dip In The Pool, is an increasingly trippy tone poem, constructed from collaged, layered whispered vocals. The serene, symphonic Sunless, produced in cahoots with  Bristol’s Memotone, summons a mood both melancholic and romantic, centred around harp-like harmonies and muted sonar blips. Cul De Sac weaves a warm, narcotic wash from sharp rattling snares and a low end pulse. Wanli’s scurrying, trickling details and wisps of woodwind paint pictures of an alien Amazonian rainforest. Ripe Fruits shifts from kosmische arpeggios to gentle tribal percussion, giving rise to a tropical vibe. Os Cionn is a deft, dub deconstruction of Detroit Techno, in the lineage, a direct descendant of, Basic Channel’s seminal reshapes. 

Highlights include One Place After Another, where Yu Su joins forces with post-rock pioneers Seefeel for some angelic ambient. An ocean of treated, delayed, temple percussion, it surrounds a sometimes near subliminal duet with Sarah Peacock. Another standout is the album’s title track, which was initially released as a single last November. A fantastic, dance-floor focused outlier, this is a wonderfully wonky modern take on acid house. Wedding filtered TB-303 fluctuations to tough, jacking drums straight off of `90s Relief record, while also doffing its cap to Derrick Carter’s trademark, funky, broken, fidgeting Detroit boompty-boomp. The rhythm in places doubled-up, as if a turntablist were on the cut, and whipped by disorientating, spinning whirlwind-like frequencies.  

Yu Su’s Foundry’s be released until May, but you can pre-order a copy care of Short Span.