Sympathies is a series of self-published releases by Furtive, showcasing an extensive genre-agnostic catalog of colorful original production. The fifth release in the series has the polychromatic producer revisiting and re-tuning their familiar psychedelic murk, making forays into exquisite and sappy new territory, and - inevitably - delivering fearsome acid. Enclosed are nine tracks of kinetic low-end energy, trippy textures, soaring n’ dreamy moments, and crunchy tuff stuff - all for maximum dancefloor wiggliness.

Plunging straight in with shifting propulsive bass movement is Repudiation: a crowning highlight of rippling acid arpeggiation, this track is for when sincerity and gentle dancefloor drama don’t have to come at the expense of high-impact techno kinetics.

The dripping Dendrobatid lowers us into familiar Furtive territory - murky, warping, trippy textures. Dendrobatid is a steamier rendition of this sound, with chunky percussion and leafy breakbeats between the moist, twisting sound design. Profligate submerges us in louring, uneasy warped textures that churn up into slippery, dubbed-out cascades, as the slightly more upbeat Scofflaw pulls us through oil-slicked whirlpool wetness. Both of these trippy, dissociated tracks share sharp, frothy percussive accents, low-slung and steadily progressing synthoid patterns, and a sure case of lost-in-the-fog stumbling.

Furtive fires off a proper fracas with the punishing Pit Dragon and cimmerian Brandstifter. A ferocious fizzed-out acid scorcher, Pit Dragon is a start-to-finish intense fire-breather of a track for high-yield dancefloor detonation. With heavy kicks and slugging bass, Brandstifter has similar intensity, but opts for benthic black-out drum’n’bass sound design of dubbed-out claps, simmering rolling percussion, and uneasy flickers.

For needed levity, Potion Slurper is a somewhat silly sliding bin-rattler for sleepy steppers - either for those still snoozy in the early bits of a night, or for those swirling in the drain in the soporific last morning minutes, once the potions have all been slurped and burped away.

With Gerbera and Dawnpeel, Furtive ventures into the more melodramatic and melodic side of romantic deep techno, weaving soaring, glittering synthesizer movement between heartbeat basses. Gerbera balances the psychedelic with the saccharine, including a warping mycelial overtone texture alongside gossamer pads, while Dawnpeel leans into a glowing, all-smiles warmth for more tender dancefloor moments.

Sympathies is named after a series of portraits, experimental photographs, and weird VHS footage incidentally produced during a wild, debauched studio session - an experience long-since surpassed with all-the-more saturated and riotous adventures.

Sympathies is a blur of emotions, experiences, sensations, relationships, and the psychedelic fragments between.