Factory Floor: Factory Floor – review

London dance trio Factory Floor's debut mixes techno, house, disco and more industrial fare to often mesmeric effect. Opener Turn It Up wrongfoots you from the start with its off-kilter tom before the kick drum begins, a slightly queasy monotone synth motif backing Nik Colk Void's pitch-shifted vocal line. Here Again starts with a filtered riff that circles around, coming in and out of focus for a full minute before the beats kick in, while the drums on Fall Back recall New Order (Steven Morris is a fan and sometime collaborator). As a whole, it's a highly inventive take on the house template, very much in keeping with the rest of the DFA label's output – though a pattern emerges that sees Void's languorous, treated vocals backed, and often dominated, by highly aggressive synth lines (the synth here starts to sound like a helicopter landing, and at other times I'm reminded of Terry Riley). It's a striking opposition but one that might bug you before the end. That said, the record has unity, depth and exquisite production (courtesy of Timothy "Q" Wiles), and repeated listenings will pay off.