After a huge string of singles on revered labels like AUS Music, Throne Of Blood, 50Weapons and their own Feel My Bicep imprint, Belfast duo Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar step out on Ninja Tune for their full-length self-titled debut album. Bicep features plenty of the sort of squeeky clean garage-influenced house and vaguely-tribal ambient techno that they perfected on early singles “Just,” “Celeste” and “Dahlia,” but the sound is much more muscular (pun intended), distilled to its ravey essence and coolly flexed (again) over 12 full tracks. Highlights include “Glue,” which timestretches a classic jungle break and reconfigures it into an ethereal 7am 2-step garage tune for the morning after crew, and “Vale” which flips another break into a mellow breakbeat house tune with ghostly traces of R&B vocals and dubbed-out panflutes floating in the lurch. "Opal" boasts some seriously heavy garage swing, and "Drift" consists of a Tangerine Dream-esque synth arpeggio that waxes and wanes. The duo nail downtempo, too, on the icy slow-lurching "Ayr." Double 180g vinyl pressing, housed in deluxe gatefold sleeve with code for digital download.

• 180g double vinyl pressing
• deluxe gatefold sleeve
• digital download included
• limited edition
• music label: Ninja Tune 2017

reviewed by mayor of hounslow 08/2017