Chewed Corners was written in the same period as Paradinas's recent Heterotic project (a collaboration with his wife Lara Rix-Martin and Warp's singer / songwriter Gravenhurst) while he was home alone. He says he intended the compositions "to evoke drama and emotion," and while the music was made with no conscious influences, after listening back Paradinas says Kuedo, Aphex Twin, Chicago Footwork, Art of Noise, Orbital, Japan and Rustie must all have had an effect.
While his last album, 2007's Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique, was at times as harrowing and miserable as its title suggests, Chewed Corners is almost the polar opposite: relaxed, self-possessed, and a pleasure to listen to. It also foregrounds one of Paradinas's most important characteristics--something that has always shone through his far-reaching experimentation and kept it sounding both personal and accessible--his knack for great melodies and lush arrangements. Chewed Corners sidesteps affiliations to any genre; instead it's a suite of fourteen retro-futurist tracks, created with a lush, analog-sounding palette. It's a gentle ride that finds a way to breathe light and joy into the framework. In other words, it's classic u-Ziq.
