Naturally, therefore, Tranklements (Yorkshire dialect, meaning a collection of precious objects) is an album of single-minded purpose. There are no fashionable diversions into drone, noise or dub techno. Instead, The Black Dog continue to explore the legacies of Detroit and Sheffield bleep techno, and where those two shade into ambient electronica, with technical elegance and emotional honesty. In that way Tranklements recalls Robert Hood's Motor: Nighttime World 3: both exhibit a confidence and composure perhaps unique to veteran producers.
Where it does audibly intersect with contemporary clubland, Tranklements feels entirely unforced. With its vibrant dark energy (all metallic percussion, groaning, ear-worm bass fluctuations and a voice moaning "oh God... oh God..."), "Pray Crash I" could fit into a Ben UFO set. Likewise, you might hear, in the strangulated chirrups that underpin the ecclesiastical organs of "Hymn For SoYo," reference to the rhythmic dysfunction of UK bass. But there is no sense of the Black Dog chasing the zeitgeist. They have perspective, a mature sense of what it is they do. It allows them to retain a clear identity, whether dipping into what could be called tech house ("First Cut"), or negotiating the closing trio of "Death Bingo", "Mind Object" and "Spatchka." During those final 18 minutes, the trio wander on and off the dance floor at will, toggling around various strains of dusky, melancholic techno and skittish electronica, peaking in "Spatchka," an evocative, beatless pay-off—part Krautrock, part Selected Ambient Works, wholly beautiful.