There’s something quietly unsettling about Behind Consciousness, the latest vinyl-only outing from Tensal on Italy’s Concrete Records that lists supporters like James Ruskin, Ø [Phase], DVS1, and Ben Sims. The Spanish producer has long explored the tension between rhythm and reflection, but here, on four elegantly restrained cuts, he dives into a deeper void. The liminal space where movement fades into thought and the dance floor begins to dream.
The title track “Behind Consciousness” opens like a coded transmission from an unseen world. Metallic percussion flickers between pulses of static and bleeps that seem to question their own existence. “Itaewon” follows, its rolling low-end dragging through shadows while spectral echoes trace the walls of some unseen tunnel, guiding lost frequencies home.
“Mandrax” offers warmth, but not comfort. Its analogue textures and buoyant bassline feel alive, breathing and mutating as layers of rhythm twist around each other like smoke. Then comes “Foeh” the closer, where time itself seems to stutter. A fractured kick keeps things grounded while airy synth wisps blur the boundary between structure and drift.
Tensal doesn’t just produce tracks, he sculpts environments. Each piece feels like an artefact recovered from a forgotten ritual, simultaneously ancient and futuristic. Behind Consciousness isn’t music to explain; it’s music to inhabit. Listen closely and you might catch the moment when awareness slips, when repetition becomes revelation, when you find yourself, just for a second, on the other side of perception.
- Reviewed by Jack! Who? for deathtechno.com
