Since stepping into the overflow of coastal dance music currents with a remarkable liquidity of buoyant basslines and undulating rhythms, Active Surplus have stripped back and refined their process. The duo’s lush, singular sound has undergone vaporization. And where there is vapour, there is heat. The compositions on Mirroring have a subliminal quality. It is as though new elements and sections simply develop out of the ether while the listener is entranced by the interplay of percussion and arpeggiator that defines the first side of the album. They say a watched pot never boils. The rolling simmer of the album’s first half reaches peak percolation in the midst of Emote Control’s spritely electro shuffle. Even at this energetic height, AS are unafraid to demonstrate masterful restraint, dropping everything out but the drums before we finally hear the bassline for the first time at the 3min mark. It’s the group’s matured sensibility for pacing that begets the hypnotic euphoria abundant on Mirroring. Cerulean Blue initiates the meditative condensation phase of Mirroring. Rhythms remain propulsive under luxuriating pads which feel like a contemplation on the water’s surface, to which molecules begin to reintegrate. Layers of shimmering synth reflect like sun droplets off the crystalline plane of Silencer while a gentle tide pulses. Docking listeners with a sense of closure, Slow Horizon delivers on its title in mood and atmosphere. Mirroring is a beautifully contained work from a duo whose musical identity has clarified through intention and ritual. Active Surplus craft compositions that leave space for listeners to be in the room with them as they create. Because mirroring, in essence, is a form of relating. Words by: Destiny Rosenberg