Steven Wilsonis no stranger to composing music that appears to counter everything else before it in his catalogue.Bass Communion, his long running solo electronic project, is no exception to this perverse streak that apparently likes to turn all expectations upside down.The Itself of Itself, Bass Communion’s first album for 12 years, skillfully pays testament to this. Long established as a purveyor of mostly atmospheric or ambient textures, the seven cuts that representThe Itself of Itselftake detours from this approach in order draw as much from musique concrete, noise music, abstract electronics and uneasy listening. Whilst still rippled with the same shades of light and dark that can be found throughout all of Bass Communion’s work,The Itself of Itselfreveals a fascination with analogue sounds and, more importantly perhaps, “unwanted” analogue artefacts like tape hiss, wow and flutter, static noise, and sonic break-up, taking the music into a space at once different yet familiar. On the title track, a mellotron flute rusts and collapses in on itself in a way that renders it the very antithesis of the one deployed on “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Everything adds up to a dynamic listening experience where unease, dread and comparatively claustrophobic torrents of sound make (un)natural bedfellows to moments of enchantment and serenity. Above all,The Itself of Itselfsees Steven Wilson cutting his teeth on an album that’s at once cinematic and moody whilst proving him to be a master in electronic music craftsmanship. It’s an album that might surprise some of those who have thus far been paying attention to his work as Bass Communion, but setting out to please everyone was never part of his raison d’etre.The Itself of Itselfcatches Bass Communion spreading its weatherbeaten wings to embrace new strategies and a strong desire to journey elsewhere. Arriving in a wonderfulCarl Gloverdesigned deluxe cover also comprising a 24pp. booklet of his photographs and an obi strip, this version ofThe Itself of Itselfarrives on Lumberton Trading Company as a double LP pressed in an initial run of 1000 copies.