released December 1, 2023
Joe Potts – Guitar (Tracks 1, 2)
Tom Way – Drums (Tracks 1, 2), Bass guitar (Track 3)
Tracks 1, 2 mixed and mastered by Benjamin Guenther
Track 3 mixed by Tom Way, mastered by Alessio Garavello
Artwork by Marta Ptaszkiewicz ©
Music written by Tom Way 2017-2019
Special thanks to Elaine Wolvey, Lee Starkey,
Matt McCartney, Kathleen & Peter Way
Halfmeltedbrain Records 2023
Ensemble 1 ℗ & © 2023
www.ensemble1.net
“Delay Works is not like anything else, and while that might not be too much of a surprise to those who have experienced Ensemble 1 before, it is notable that this is, completely, its own thing. A surreal example of auditory impressions, crafted around the mindset of minimalism, and best experienced with a completely open mind.”
– 9/10 Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life
“As the title ‘Delay Works’ suggests, delay effects are used throughout the entirety of their new album. These delay effects, combined with the slow progression of each track, create a uniquely seamless flow. Despite how gradually each track morphs, there remains a thrilling speed to the guitars and drums that keeps each track captivating. It's like watching an epic domino run unfold.”
– Music Related Junk
“I have no idea where to place Ensemble 1 in the great pantheon of Extreme music. No-one can deny that they are an incredibly extreme band, but not with heaviness. Their sheer, bloody-minded vision doesn’t create songs. It creates huge, glittering soundscapes that are shiny and clean and futuristic and streamlined and polished to such a shine that they melt things when sunlight shines directly on them. They are hundreds of metres of pristine white concrete over which endless armies of impeccably turned-out troops march in perfect synchronicity…”
– Ever-Metal
“It’s a miracle that Ensemble 1 are able to stop. Delay Works is an album about repetitious rock minimalism, but also about the inexorable forward drive of the 6/8 rhythm, which lands in the goldilocks zone between downbeat emphasis and the sensation of hypnotically spiralling. The result is ecstatic self-perpetuation; the gradual subsidence of alternative routes, the energetic entrenchment of the same circular path, always back to the start, never losing power.”
– ATTN:Magazine
“Ensemble 1 waste no time running circles around you with the hypnotic experimental soundscapes of their sophomore album Delay Works”
– Tinnitist