Audiopile Review: After successfully co-running Peak Oil, as well as the recently debuted False Aralia label, the razor-sharp curatorial ear of Brian Foote unveils his first imprint as sole proprietor, simply titled FO, rescuing a 2023 CDr release by London trio Rest Symbol from hopeless obscurity as his first order of business. Before forming Rest Symbol, the three members—Molinaro, Moreiya and Wendy Lavone—had been circulating in the bottomless depths of the UK dance underground. A notable shift happened when a track of time-shifted and woozy downtempo from Molinaro appeared on the 2022 survey of London’s new guard of underground soul and jazz, Touching Bass’ Soon Come comp, possibly the kernel from which the trio would spring only a year later. However they arrived here, Rest Symbol does feel like a general reset for all three as they experiment with form and upend expectations. And while some fuss is being made about their connection to the current trip-hop resurgence—admittedly, it’s hard to deny the smokey breakbeats and torchlit vocals that feel readymade from the classic era—the group clearly have loftier goals than simply rehashing the past. With Moreiya’s striking siren call as their beacon, they patiently tease out piercing strings, looped keys and sticky drum machines, dotting their grey-smudged slurry with glistening textures, allowing just enough light to pour through the cracks. Even though this one is already two years in the rearview, Rest Symbol still feel absolutely futuristic. Can’t wait to see what’s next. Edition of 300, sold out at the source.

***

A sticky distillate of dissociated exotica, orchestral ambience, psychedelic dub and smoke-choked soul, rest symbol’s self-titled debut oozes through the crumpled wreckage of British downtempo music. The enigmatic London-based trio of Molinaro, Moreiya and Wendy Lavone reactivate ingredients that have nourished the underground for decades, circling the spread with ravenous irreverence: Crumbly breaks are brushed off grid and reduced to caramel, viscous string phrases oxidized under tape noise and Moreiya’s powerful voice gobbled up by cavernous reverb. Trip-hop has been decomposing for some time at this point, and rest symbol’s surrealist approach provides a much-needed tonic.

All three of the band’s members have accrued plenty of experience, racking up solo releases on Apron, Touching Bass, 5 Gate Temple and Molinaro’s own AN1MA imprint, and Moreiya’s work as a filmmaker also comes into play here. A still from one of her own grainy, monochrome films adorns the album’s cover, and that crepuscular mood permeates the entire record. On ‘Empty Sun’, fleeting xylophone vamps and celestial library music remnants snake around slow-motion drum phases and Moreiya’s whisper-sung vocalizations, while distant diva rave memories are blotted with sinewy orchestral drones on ‘ETIUS MOTIF’. Crackly samples emerge and vanish like subliminal frames, spliced and processed to augment rest symbol’s inverted songs with Brakhage-style avant ingenuity.