Exai is the eleventh studio album by British electronic music duo Autechre. It was released on 7 February 2013 through Warp Records. Physical 2xCD and 4xLP versions were released on 5 March 2013.[1] Before the release of NTS Sessions 1–4, Exai was Autechre's longest album to date.[2] Like many other albums by the duo, Exai was followed by a companion EP named L-event which was released a few months later on 28 October 2013.[3]
Background
Most of the tracks on Exai were a result of the members of Autechre, Rob Brown and Sean Booth, experimenting with Max.[4] The duo decided to move away from MIDI which was used during the recording of Quaristice. Exai was the product of a variety of trial runs with their new system, which were then edited into tracks.[4] In an interview with Resident Advisor, Booth stated that Exai was "definitely talked about as an album for a year before its release" and that most of the tracks were "two or three years old when it came out".[5]
Composition
Exai has been described as electronic,[2]experimental,[6]IDM,[7]abstract[7] and ambient.[8]Exai is spread across 17 tracks, making it a double album. Andy Kellman of AllMusic commented that many of the tracks on Exai were "riveting and accessible". Kellman discussed tracks such as "recks on", calling it "somehow crisp and sludgy" and a "peculiar hybrid of big beat and bass", noting that it was "one of the heaviest pieces the duo has produced".[8] Reviewing Exai for BBC Music, Chris Power called the track "Flep" a "breakbeat-powered track that’s sick in both senses". He also discussed the longest track on the album, "bladelores", describing that the track had "established a sense of echoing space" and that it contained "a surging wave of pads – that seem summoned from some Balearic collective unconscious".[9]
In a review for The Quietus, Charlie Frame called the track "Irlite (get 0)" a "ten-minute, two-bout brawl between an angry rumbling sub-bass and a swarm of pesky vespine synth stabs".[10] Frame also discussed "bladelores", calling it a highlight of the album and described the track's structure as "the funky drummer break is slowed down by a factor of about ten, until it’s just this humungous unrelenting thwack that echoes into an impossible unending chasm". Discussing Exai for Pitchfork, Grayson Haver Currin stated that the track "T ess xi" made use of "fluorescent soul keyboards as its basic building block".[2] Currin also discussed "deco Loc", describing its sound as "[turning] someone's voice inside out, creating beautiful textures and themes from a sound salvaged and forcibly repurposed".
Release
Exai was announced on 13 December 2012, originally planned for release on 5 March 2013.[11] Unexpectedly, the album was released early digitally on 7 February 2013.[12]Exai was officially released on CD by Beat Records in Japan on 27 February 2013, and on 4xLP and 2xCD by Warp Records on 5 March 2013.[13]
A companion EP to Exai, titled L-event was announced on 16 September 2013.[14] It was released on 11 October 2013 digitally, and on 28 October 2013 on CD and LP.
Exai was received positively by critics. At Metacritic, which aggregates scores from mainstream critics, Exai has an average score of 80 based on 26 reviews, indicating a score of "generally favorable".[15]
Charlie Frame, in a review for The Quietus, gave a positive review of the album and commented that Exai drew ideas from "all through Autechre’s illustrious career" but stated that the duo were still making tracks based off "a very similar sonic palette" such as those on Oversteps and Move of Ten.[10] Brandon Bussolini of XLR8R wrote that the album "more consistently evokes the club" than most other projects the duo had previously released.[26] For Exclaim!, Nick Storring stated that Exai was not "cutting edge" but that it was still "chock-full of detail, intrigue, wit, intensity and poise".[19] Andrew Ryce of Resident Advisor compared the tracks on Exai to "data overload", moreso than their previous projects. Concluding his review, he stated that it felt like the duo had "more of a grip on what they're trying to do than they've ever had" but that the album's "only real" cohesion was its "resistance to linearity and conventional melody".[6]
In a review for Pitchfork, Grayson Haver Currin had a more negative outlook of the album, commenting that some of the tracks "deserve to be cut into halves" and others needed to be removed entirely.[2] Josh Becker of Beats Per Minute gave a positive review, and commented that Exai instead "implies melody" rather than displaying it outright.[16] Writing for The Irish Times, Jim Carroll gave the album three stars and stated that "Exai is as intense and risk-friendly as anything else in [the duo's] catalogue".[25] For BBC Music, Chris Power called Exai "often abrasive and fidgety" and commented on the easiness in seeing the album as the "first chapter of late-period Autechre" due to the duo revisiting past sounds.[9]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Sean Booth and Rob Brown
