The cover art for Rubie Take Both. A colour photograph of Rubie stood on a reflective board against a blue background. They are barefoot and wearing a blue sleeveless dress, with a pattern of small white flowers all over, and have a yellow shirt underneath. Rubie's long light brown hair is in two plaits with yellow hair ties at the ends. Their back is hunched and arms outstretched. Rubie's right hand is reaching for a megaphone that is next to them on the reflective board.

'Whole' builds over the first few minutes. Starting with a powerful synthetic kick drum, adding droning guitar and initially soft singing with elongated vowels. Gradually more electronic percussion adds, with the vocals and guitar getting closer to your ear. Around the four minute mark, after beginning to drop again rather than reaching the expected apex, it stops.

All that remains is a low hum, until a choir joins and the build begins anew. The drums and now distorted guitar return with increased vigour. The vocals, now pitch shifted, slide around before the guitar again drops away leaving just the spare beat we started with. It's a really masterful arrangement that sounds like it would well score experimental visuals, an arty short perhaps, or a performance piece.

FEBRUARY 4, 2020