From grime tactics to the format of pure sonic inquisition, Texan Eric C. Burton has provided more than enough proof of his inestimable value to much of the contemporary music that has come our way. It is under the enigmatic guise of Rabit that his productions have attracted widespread admiration, including from the ever-attentive Bjork. With almost a decade of releases under his belt, the admirable archive he has nurtured never ceases to amaze; where others seek to find a safe space to develop a lexicon, Rabit prefers to avoid that space beforehand – instead travelling the surrounding area with an eternal curiosity about nuance. Knowing that it’s on the margins where he moves, it’s not surprising to see infusions with other multimedia artists, clearly sharing a common vision of tampering with the natural state of things. Whether as creator or editor (through his Halcyon Veil), Burton brings together brains, flesh and nerve. In a musical league so vast and teeming with emerging names and unexpected returns, this is an example of healthy militancy towards art itself. After all, it makes ambiguity its greatest asset.

Using a sharp panoply of customised tools and generative music software, there are few who manage to extract such a vivid, almost life-like expression from electronica. With the release of Communion, he has gained cult status over the last few years, embedding some of the best material that Tri Angle has offered during its nostalgic existence. But from violence and tension, Rabit knew how to find those threshold zones, recondite and still in raw mode, to fantastic artificial worlds like Les Fleurs du Mal or What Dreams May Come. Melodic instincts and emotional convulsions are aligned with a signature digital surrealism. And contrary to what you might think, none of this is escapist; ‘The people running this country right now are truly the lowest level human beings – monsters… I wanted to make a work that had that level of decay’. The intention was expressed in an interview with the publication Dazed – and frankly it couldn’t be more faithful. Mirroring the climate of upheaval and abyss that plagues us, it also reminds us of the intense power of creativity. The dismantling of ideas to create our own and, above all, going against the current. Whatever that may be. NA