Album Review: Daniel Avery - 'Tremor'
Is there anything Daniel Avery can’t do? The Bournemouth-born polymath could have been content with his 2013 debut Drone Logic being hailed as a near-masterpiece, the culmination of everything he’d been building towards since his days as Stopmakingme, but it was only the beginning of his story. A clear throughline can be seen from there to here, via a further four records, among which were linkups with former Nine Inch Nails touring member Alessandro Cortini and the first fruits of a more collaborative spirit creeping into his solo work on Ultra Truth last time out in 2022. So when he put his head down for a few years, it was clear something big was coming.
The head-turning Demise of Love EP from earlier this year was a nice appetiser—tellingly, another collaboration, this time with Ghost Culture and Working Men’s Club—but the actual 2025 main course has arrived in the form of his sixth album, crashing into the eclectic Domino roster with a record that’s got a little bit of everything he’s ever done in it, reliably Avery-esque even as it breaks new musical ground and throws the doors open for a staggering nine guest spots. Tremor is his party, and everyone’s invited; a love letter to the music that made him that dips its toes into industrial-tinged, noisier and simultaneously prettier waters. It’s why songs from his new record can hang with the likes of old guard shoegazers Cocteau Twins and newer blood like Maria Somerville and DIIV alike, and why he’s taking this album on the road as a fully-fledged live show.
As a heads-up, the record plays more like a continuous mix, and committing to the whole 49-minute journey is the best way to experience it. The album format is going nowhere, despite what some may want you to think, and Avery’s latest is powerful proof. There are no brakes on this thing, speeding off the racing line Ithe moment ‘Rapture In Blue’ kicks in and Avery’s atmospheric world of sound design and shimmering melody unfurls, riding on waves of skittering rhythm and speaker-bothering low-end. It fades before being blitzed by a pummeling guitar riff you’d expect from the likes of HEALTH as the Ellie-featuring ‘Haze’ kicks in. It’s among the heaviest cuts Avery’s released to date, with ‘A Silent Shadow’ tweaking the riff just enough to act like its more restrained but still foreboding cousin, flipping an idea and turning it into a completely different song on a dime.
The sonic shades brighten slightly for the scuzzy breakbeats and languid chords of ‘New Life’, while getting Alison Mosshart on a song that skews about as close to Nine Inch Nails as you’d expect from someone who worked with a former live member is an inspired touch, as ‘Greasy Off The Racing Line’ dials up the late-night sweaty paranoia several notches. Coming out the other side of ‘Until The Moon Starts Shaking’ collapsing into nerve-shredding noise, ‘The Ghost Of Her Smile’ adds a little Deftones into the mix via both its Abe Cunningham-invoking drum groove and tipping its hat to the alt-metal titans with a suitably explosive chorus.
Contrasting sharply with the sludgy ambience of ‘Disturb Me’, you’d think two songs so starkly different from each other can’t exist side by side. Herein lies what makes this album such a statement. True to its title, Tremor shakes things up in ways that may have been teased or hinted towards in the past—there’s that throughline again—but it’s all come together in ways nobody could have expected. Day ones will tell you everything Daniel Avery touches turns to gold, and it’s been a few years since we were really reminded of what that means.
2013 brought his fully-formed arrival and the release of a touchstone 2010s electronic record, but Tremor is a blueprint for Avery’s 2020s approach; omnivorous, ever-morphing and expanding. It’s got Walter Schreifels of Rival Schools on it, for crying out loud. We bet he’s still pinching himself about that; and well he might, because ‘In Keeping’ is in the running for the best song on the record. It’s got plenty of competition, with energy, passion and drive radiating from every moment, and the star-studded supporting cast only serving to highlight that he’s at the absolute top of his game. Any of his other records could be a good shout, but Tremor is unquestionably the best thing Daniel Avery’s made to date. Get shook.
Words by Gareth O'Malley
