The Abstract Eye

(This article’s English version was produced with AI-assisted translation)

Detroit techno still deserves a place of honor. And above all, it’s not a phenomenon that feeds only on its past glories. The Abstract Eye is the most tangible proof of this: born Gabriel Reyes-Whittaker, known in the British underground as Gifted & Blessed, he started this side project in the early 2010s, releasing the excellent "Cool Warm Divine" EP in 2011. By 2025, "You Can’t Unsee Me" represents his debut album, a melting pot of ideas where eight explorations, recorded live over the course of a decade, take shape through an essential setup and a minimal sound palette. What sets the work apart is its attraction to authentic rhythmic distortions, born of a progressive broken beat ("Skyfather") and, above all, a reverence for vintage synthesizers, like Yamaha, which have painted the electronic landscape since the 1980s.

The Abstract Eye offers true visions of unknown universes, intangible habitats where constantly shifting polyrhythms surprise the listener with every beat ("True Freedom Without Boundaries", a small masterpiece for late-night DJing). In an arsenal that deploys Roland drum machines, synth bass, and a handful of oscillators to carve out endless harmonic evolutions, the approach is clear: maximize creativity with the bare minimum. It’s not so much timbre exploration that drives the journey, heavily marked by electro aesthetics, but rather the exploration of structures that deform and reassemble into hypnagogic visions, true dancefloor hallucinations ("Connected To Life").

The references are all Detroit-based: Mike Banks, Dark Matrix (particularly the glorious "Techelectro" LP from 2002), DJ Bone. But none are explicitly cited. The sci-fi drifts of Drexciya or the acid pulses of Underground Resistance are missing; it’s as if the alchemy of Motor City had been distilled to reveal its purest skeleton, with arpeggios and synthetic textures taking center stage, supported by rhythms that are as winding as they are biting.

You Can’t Unsee Me is an album that at times may feel angular, as the club scene often expects rhythmic predictability or conventional structures. There’s little trace of that here; whether in more composed moments or those steeped in an impetuous groove, the result is a dazzling kaleidoscope of emotions: a third eye that illuminates perception.

28/02/2025