The excellence of Forbidden Planet‘s catalogue isn’t to be proved anymore. In just six records, the Montreal-based label has fired a consistent series of releases, be it pieces by confirmed producers or unknown talents, versatile and daring, forward-thinking yet well-anchored in the present of electronic music. In this sense, the label’s taste for musical reveries and spaced-out sound narratives is more than respected with that fresh new opus which is also Dan White‘s debut EP. Unheard-of to most, the young Australian producer definitely shows he’s got plenty of tricks up his sleeve and this first effort doesn’t lack resource or inspiration to say the least.
Opening the path with the sublime Death Flutes, White conquers his audience with impressive tranquility. The track progresses slowly, blooming into a ten minute flower of sound, secretly unfolding before your ears, petal after petal. Somewhere between Jean-Michel Jarre’s a la Oxygene sonic odysseys and Nathan Fake’s ‘Drowning in a Sea of Love’, White finely plays communicating vessels with both epicly-driven, melodic soarings and more intimate phases. The echoes of the languorous synths ripple over and over, gently rising from the background to finally enter a shapeless void. But the true existential question here is, ‘How ten minutes can feel so terribly short?’.
Following on, ba2 fin is instantly taking things to more radical and darker techno grounds. With the ambience morphing, the groove does so. More bouncey although the flanging effect gives some elasticity and binder to the track, White gives it a second wind when the lamenting pads enter the dance. Not the best track of the EP but a rather solid transition material for the track to come. Indeed, Agent Cooper is the one. It has this immediate touch of a Badalamenti-inflected soundscape, cruising in slow-motion in a twisted neo-noir environment. This is a string ostinato played directly on the nerves, a sonic gaze slowly drifting off-the-edge. Twin Peaks climax.
To finish the job in a bit of a digressive manner, White adds the one thing previous tracks were devoid of… i.e. vocals. The altered voices of Human Hologram add some depth to the bouncing acid bass and psychoactive, alarm-like rhythm. A last mental ride that seems to be the negative replica of the opening tune in fact. The nervous, scalding hot ending nicely differs from the rest of the EP yet rests upon the same sense of spontaneity. A fast-moving take that makes very clear that White’s sound is never where you expect it to be at. It keeps swerving and mutating, shifting scales and grooves with obvious talent. Forbidden Planet got it right, this guy’s one of 2014 finest and most intriguing newcomers.
Untitled is out now, order a copy from Juno.
> PLAY DEATH FLUTES
> PLAY ba2 fin
> PLAY AGENT COOPER
> PLAY HUMAN HOLOGRAM
Discover more about Dan White and Forbidden Planet on Inverted Audio.