Review: Kyle Bobby Dunn - Rural Route No. 2

After being impressed no end by the double-disc collection of A Young Person’s Guide to Kyle Bobby Dunn, I was intrigued to see how his music would work within a 20-minute EP. Thankfully, it doesn’t feel restricted or cut short by its duration, and somehow manages to sink into the gorgeous mystique of outer-space without feeling remotely hurried.

“Dissonant Distances” seems to span off into the distance like a grim and ceaseless corridor. As the title might suggest it’s utterly atonal for the most part – harmony occasionally seeps in, but only in a miserable and warped form. This is a much darker side to Dunn’s music that doesn’t really feature in amongst the blissful cosmos of A Young Person’s Guide, and works nicely to heighten the tranquil embrace that arrives in the second track.

“Senium III” is just a fantastic piece, and certainly the brighter and more welcoming of the two. Sounds are left to enter and depart on their own accord. Patches of near-silence are immediately followed by heavy activity and vice versa, with each texture in sparse and aimless conversation, running unintentionally in harmonic parallels before shooting off in individual directions, like watching stars glimmer and dim in sporadic cycles.

Kyle seems to have furthered his ability to remove consciousness from the music here. Rural Route No.2 feels incredibly far from home – fingers crossed future releases show no signs of turning back.