Now we arrive at RDJ’s full-length debut – a classic of electronic music, whose influence is still felt to this day.
The dates suggest Rich started work on these tracks when he was just 14. For all the tall tales he’s told over the years, I’m happy to believe this one and can easily imagine a teenage Twin experimenting with synths and drum machines, laying the groundwork for these pieces. While he’s often claimed his motivation for creating music was because no one else was producing the tunes he wanted to hear, there’s no denying the debt SAW 85-92 owes to the black pioneers of Chicago and Detroit, with James recasting the urban sounds of House and Techno in the rugged and beautiful landscape of Cornwall.
Although not strictly ‘ambient’ as the title implies, it is a compilation of sorts. The tracks were selected by Rich’s friends – but that does nothing to detract from the coherence of the record. Every cut here stands on its own as near flawless, from the hissing static of Xtal, with its whispered vocal sample, to the delicate barely-there melody on Tha, which over 9 minutes gradually emerges out of the sound of muffled voices and a metronomic beat.
Choosing a favourite is near impossible. Pulsewidth lives up to its name, surging forward on an optimistic bass line; the low slung Aegispolis balances bottomless bass and elastic drum pattern under a tippy-toes synth melody. Acid stormer, Green Calx bursts out of nowhere to finish side 1, followed by the euphoric Heliosphan (a sunrise track if ever there was one). There’s the electro groove of Ptolemy, the muted dub of We Are the Music Makers, the warehouse-quaking Hedphelym, one could go on and on.
It feels emblematic of dance music’s DIY attitude that those early home-recorded experiments of a Cornish teenager and Polytechnic dropout have such far reaching influence. Ground-breaking at the time, laying the blueprint for what would be known as ‘ambient techno’, SAW 85-92 is being rediscovered all over again as part of the mu-core canon, and owes its enduring appeal to the timeless quality of the music.
Rating: 5/5 – Essential
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