REVIEW / PREMIERE: DOC - Under the Selenite Eye [Secuencias Temporales]
As the days grow shorter and the nights longer, we find comfort in the warm glow of a candle or reassurance in the sheen of the moon - an external light we can rely on to find our way back from our winter reveries.
DOC debuts with Subsurface States on Secuencias Temporales (Mexico City) at a time of year when reflections propagate within us and also amongst us. You know DOC as a live performer and DJ, as well as from his Selene Series where he shares exceptional taste and curations of the deep and otherworldly.
The first sounds we hear on Subsurface States are careful jingles and deep tones that echo in Null Gravity Chamber. But the next track becomes the center point of the EP. It transports me back to various moments throughout the year because it subtlety encompasses so many different elements of sound that I can link with each memory. Under the Selenite Eye has a steady pulse, it is vibrant and calm at the same time. It allows for the listener to comfortably follow the path of the music, and then sink in deeper.
The third track, Spheres of Cavorite, comes in at a tempo close to that of Under the Selenite Eye, which lends it a similar feel. But here DOC plays with some more rhythmic and tonal ranges, in a way that makes our ears start to tingle. Below Surface, Time Softens is the best way to put into words what this next track itself embraces. I notice how some dispersed soft kicks are at the forefront and everything else subdued under that layer. The way that DOC bends time especially in the final minute of the track is sublime. Formless Collisions forms the longest track of them all. It brings a feeling as though it consists of a string of hesitations…and some hesitating strings as well.
With so much goodness on Subsurface States, what makes this EP even more special, are the two close collaborations that are on it. Javier Marimon displaces everything and puts his elemental signature on Spheres of Cavorite. He draws us into his world in a powerful exchange with no words needed (or are they hidden in there somewhere?). Meanwhile, Einerlei emphasizes breaks and reimagines Below Surface, Time Softens into a clubbier composition. Indeed, this EP is varied overall but coherent in sound.
DOC’s gravitation towards the deep, the mystical, and hypnotic are now reflected in the release of Subsurface States. And so, we can also rely on DOC for that steady warmth.
You can look forward to finding Subsurface States on Secuencias Temporales’ Bandcamp from November 9th 2026.