Jamie Roberts AKA Blawan has been releasing music since 2011, but if his is a new name to you, never fear. He describes his latest LP, SickElixir, as feeling to him like his debut, so it’s an exceptionally good place to start if you’d like to get acquainted with his work ahead of his upcoming show at Roadburn.
Prepare yourself for a dizzying display of techno prowess, created with a clarity of vision that permeates every beat, whirr, sample and synth. There is an underlying darkness, a certain kind of heaviness that has no doubt helped to smooth the path for many Roadburners who have already found their way towards his output. One or two of you may have stumbled in thanks to his contributions to the output of the indomitable duo Persher. But once you’ve arrived, ushered in with the door shut firmly behind you, the universe that Blawan has sculpted on SickElixir is equal parts captivating and claustrophobic, offering little in the way of respite.
You can’t make it further than a few sentences into a review of SickElixir before a mention of an early job at a maggot farm wriggles into view, but it does provide a glimpse into the backstory of its creator. Crafted in the wake of an all too human reckoning with addiction, the machines have taken over and form the fabric of Blawan’s work.
We can think of few better ways to wrap up day one of Roadburn than to step over the threshold and into Blawan’s world.
– Becky Laverty
