Available on: Local Action 12″

Original

Mosca remix

With the way Local Action has been developing as a label, a vocal contribution from Deep Teknologi contribution was bound to work well. T. Williams’ new single ‘Heartbeat’ takes on this sensible opportunity very sensibly indeed, providing a track built upon subtleties and maturity, yet without sacrificing any drama.

Resisting the urge to resort to predictable builds and drops, Williams opts instead for subdued yet spiky shuffling latin percussion punctuated by reverse cymbals and quiet brush snare explosions, a murmuring 4-bar marimba-esque melody bubbling away throughout. Terri Walker’s vocal nestles in this, delivered beautifully with no diva frills, the melody being pitched perfectly for her range. Williams soaks her voice with chamber reverb against infinite delay, and mirrors this throughout elements of the track, creating a hypnotic space. The emergence of soft-attack organ strokes and subdued sawtooth strings just past the halfway mark set themselves up to lead the track into an unexpectedly deep finale, but modestly bow out just short. Not an epic number by any means, but never intending to be, ‘Heartbeat’ is the track Dennis Ferrer’s aggravating ‘Hey Hey’ should have been, sharing notable similarities on first listen but quickly overtaking it. A grower too, it is likely to firmly establish itself as a genuinely sexy gliding point for mixes everywhere.

The addition of a Mosca remix is obviously going to be a big draw for many. Arguably one of his strongest skills – and one he has been receiving increasing attention over – has been in creating reinterpetations with distinct characters. He doesn’t disappoint here either, though he too decides to play a comparatively mellower card than usual, providing a jump-up broken beat number that stays true to the original context of the track. Warm Rhodes team with brushed snares and ride cymbals in an afro-jazz groove at the beginning, but when the track drops layers to make space for the vocal an unexpected, twitchy grime violin melody pops up. Throw in a bassline made from pitched congas, latin 2-step percussion and some breathy vocal tweaks, and you have yourself a classy, champagne jam for any well-dressed rave.

Steve Shaw