Beyond the afrofuturist world-building of Drexciya and the hardware jams of Dopplereffekt, Gerald Donald consistently found new ways of pushing his synthesisers and drum machines to their limits in pursuit of his career-long fascination of both conceptual and practical technological impacts.

Having breached the quantum level on 2005’s Quantum Transpositions, Donald finds a way to move deeper with 2006’s Inertial Frame. The record is as imbued with granular detail as it is conversely grandiose and dramatic, offering a sort of electro theatre of 20th century scientific breakthroughs. Each microscopic arp on the likes of ‘Universe Oscillation’ is dovetailed by synthesised choral pads, sounding like an operatic work as heard through the cockpit of an orbiting starship, while Donald’s trademark electro sound and Kraftwerk influenced vocal delivery make tracks like ‘Event Horizon’ feel like otherworldly early-club experiments.

The sounds here will be familiar to any Motor City heads out there and as is the case with each Donald release, Inertial Frame marks yet another step forward for one of techno’s most innovative sonic explorers.