The three-track Mother EP by Marble co-owner Para One arrives ahead of the artist’s first album for his new imprint and his first proper LP since 2006’s Epiphanie. Though he has certainly kept busy releasing a number of solo and collaborative EPs and singles in between, the Parisian producer’s music hasn’t really changed much during that time. He still favors hyper-compressed soundscapes, straightforward rhythms, and loading each production with uniquely handcrafted sounds, not to mention that he arranges it all like a pro. It’s just too bad that his formula has grown a bit stale over the years.

The title track—the only of these three productions that will also appear on Para One’s forthcoming LP—is a beastly cut of old-school electro beats and menacing sound effects. Surprisingly or not, it isn’t all that different from the even darker remix by fellow Frenchman Mr. Oizo, another artist who doesn’t seem terribly interested in diverging from his tried-and-true aesthetic. Both songs are more or less atonal, as the focus is primarily on the percussive qualities of each sound, and both could’ve fit perfectly in Ed Banger’s discography during the mid aughts.

Both versions of “Mother” are impeccably produced, but apart from being the latest work from a couple of veteran tunesmiths, they offer little else in terms of freshness or excitement. Para One’s collaboration with Marble co-owner Surkin, “Compute,” also boasts the tropes of French electro-house, but with a bit of a slant towards the increasingly trendy style of acid. Still, it’s not much of a change from the previous two cuts, and is ultimately as underwhelming as the rest of the Mother EP. Fingers crossed that Para One delivers some previously unexplored material when his next album drops.