Laurel Halo – Behind The Green Door EP (Hyperdub)
Vinyl/DL
20 May 2013
On the face of it this is quite a stark change of style from
the last Laurel Halo EP release, ‘Sunlight On The Faded’ which was a very accessible
and catchy number. The ‘Behind The Green
Door’ (great title, by the way) is slightly more experimental and less
immediate.
Opener ‘Throw’ has a piano riff constant throughout the
track, a house track but without the percussion. Occasionally, slipping up a key, on first
listen it can sound out of tune and almost improvised, in fact, all the tracks
on this EP could have the same comment made.
Listening to them as standalone tracks could be difficult, but, when
played in sequence the tracks work and begin to achieve some cohesion. It’s a grower, and, you if you have any
musical intelligence then you’ll give this three or four listens before making
up your mind.
‘Uhffo’ is quite a different affair with a pumping drumbeat
from the off and obligatory random sounds, whilst ‘Noyfb’ gives a far more
urban dance feel spinning off at tangents and introducing new effects
constantly.
The highlight of the EP is closer, ‘Sexmission’, starting
with a looped soundbyte before turning into a more conventional dance
sound. A more involved track but
breaking off time and time again to display more experimentation.
The stripped back ambient feel is interesting. Just enough to keep you with it, but,
sufficient space to be able to recognise different sounds and scales. It’s also ambitious enough to be given
well-rewarded praise.
Laurel is never
one to stand still and whilst we have artists like her continuing to push the
boundaries, our appreciation of an often dying UK dancefloor scene can be given
a timely injection. A grower.
7.5/10
Links
Published on Louder Than War 21/05/13 - http://louderthanwar.com/laurel-halo-behind-the-green-door-ep-review/
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