Bleep

“Where next?” is a question that longtime followers of the legendary but historically elusive Sandwell District will be familiar with. In 2024, that question became ever more potent, and now it seems to have finally received its answer. Since reigniting the flame in 2023 with the rerelease of the seminal Feed Forward, the collective have decided to keep it diligently burning, first with a compilation (bearing the titular question) of necessary classics and unheard tracks, and now with their first new music since the label closed its doors in early 2012. End Beginnings follows the tragic passing of Juan Mendez AKA Silent Servant, a pillar of the label, and sees Function and Regis re enter the game alongside Mønic and Rivet with reinvigorated purpose: “Having a good time”.

Settling into their new home at Point Of Departure, Sandwell District present some of their most focussed and evolving music together. Rhythmically rich from the get go, the album slowly teases out layered thumps and lines of melody and elasticated vocals on ‘Dreaming’, surrounded by wisps of night air. Crisp organic sounds sneak into the beat patterns, but don’t leave them without Sandwell’s signature grit and smoky presence, as with the bubbling Rrose assisted ‘Self-Initiate’ where low sirens intone and usher in urgent percussion, raised to blaring intensity.

The twists and slams of each track aren’t just dark and heavy for the sake of it; through the cavernous atmospheres emerge a desire to really get the motor running, to jump around with “a sense of unbridled fun”. ‘Will You Be Safe?’ does just that as it applies minimal arrangements and maximum force, updating Sandwell’s sound with hard drum elements and an eerie cinematic string done underneath, furthered in the Sarah Wreath featuring ‘Least Travelled’ as twangy guitar turns the lasering, skittery sonics into an action stealth sequence.

Marked by loss but starting anew, End Beginnings comes full circle, as Sandwell District are firmly back with a gripping and triumphant return.