[Sistrum Recordings]

Compared to many of his peers in Detroit, Patrice Scott tends to work on a particularly grand scale. Outer space has been a major motif throughout the city’s dance music legacy, but many of Scott’s productions seem like they’re actually trying to estimate celestial vastness. Orbital Bliss, the latest transmission from his own Sistrum label, exemplifies this scope. Scott’s sounds are confident and robust, ranging from languid to sharply pulsing. Although his signature pads have a sense of stargazing wonder, the deep space aura is really brought to life by the tracks’ incredibly fluid development.

“Tones & Things” is a brief, apprehensive prelude of undulating signals, leading into the heavily tripped-out “Oberon.” Scott blends acid chirps and cyclically shivering hi-hats, everything — aside from the pads — locked in an echoing groove. When it seems like things couldn’t get any denser, he manages to squeeze in a snare — or some dulled metallic semblance of a snare — that ends up tying it all together. The title track is more laid back and laborious in its build, laced with a serenely detached melody and anemic clavinet stabs. The track’s “Rechord version” is more concise and subsequently more mind bending, as Scott essentially skips the build for the peak. After a brief intro, he launches into a maze of piercing hi-hat patterns, peppering the track with the ripples of the titular chords. Patrice Scott has never needed much help standing out from the crowd, but Orbital Bliss makes a convincing case for him anyway.