A long-dormant signal reactivates from Hamburg’s hidden places: Helena Hauff and F#X return as Black Sites with R4 on Tresor Records, their first full-length album and the first release under the moniker since 2014. Like a hieroglyphic recently discovered and translated, R4 feels more like a long-awaited resumption than a comeback. Recorded to tape with minimal editing or post-production the record is a classic example of the symbiotic relationship that can come from the interaction of human and machine. This punk ethos isn’t invoked through distortion alone, but through method; in the album’s breaking from the received wisdom of hardness tethered to speed as most of the tougher pieces are lower BPM and vice versa.

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