"What makes Low Enforcement a special record is that it creates a compelling, unified story with very little."
Davorama’s Low Enforcement immediately feels at home on co:clear. The Glaswegian label has been releasing dubbed-out downtempo records for nearly two years, each one bringing its own uniquely poignant, emotional qualities to the mix.
The six releases on co:clear all feel cut from the same cloth. Even the artwork, though not always created by the same person, occupies a tight color space. In the music, there’s an appeal to real, even private feelings, albeit a dreamier rendering than what we might experience in the real world.
As on other co:clear records, Low Enforcement’s artwork is compelling in its own right, suggesting a much larger, untold story. It has all the makings of an underground, gritty 90’s film poster. The turtle totem feels like it might belong to a secret society. As with this cover, the aesthetic choices of the label consistently tell a story.
On Low Enforcement, stutter-stepping, syncopated, reverb-soaked drums and pillowy chord progressions are what Davorama paints with in the foreground. Across these nine tracks, the drum programming is frequently the center of attention. It’s pretty hard not to get locked in to what’s going on here. Low Enforcement has a cyber-industrial feel to it that never alienates, instead somehow managing to be warm and inviting.
The music is often in service to a special kind of melancholy, but just as often these moments are contrasted by zen-inducing progressions. It is future-forward in its design and approach, all the more refreshing in this downtempo, relaxed context. Even when using fewer elements, the pieces are never trite.
The way the drums are produced here sounds like they might have been recorded in a metal-plated room, reverberating across vast, symmetrical walls, and etched in place by cybernetic arms. The album doesn’t feel of this time, yet it’s teeming with emotional moments that feel familiar.
More than anything else, what makes Low Enforcement a special record is that it creates a compelling, unified story with very little. Each piece carries with it much of the same elements, and yet the dynamic compositional range across them is greater than what might be expected.
The album opens with “Soulsystem”, providing an outside-looking-in view of the album before we’re truly in it. It’s the opening scene to a greater drama, one with light rain, static, electrical current arcing through the air.
Where “Soulsystem” is an introduction, “Coexistentialism” establishes what the album is about, and here the groundwork is laid with only a few elements: heavily-effected drums and multiple layers of pads.
“Store Wars” sees the album at its least conventional. Here Davorama explores a gesture that starts with strong momentum and rapidly winds down, repeating over and over again like a mantra. It has the same effect that a kinetic sculpture has, turning slowly, never really different from one moment to the next, but somehow new details reveal themselves. It feels like we’ve deconstructed the mix and splayed it out across the table.
On “Beaming”, the drums fluctuate forward and backward through EQ filtering, accompanied by gentle minor pads. Occasionally bit-crushed elements make themselves known. So much gets done with an exacting amount of colour.
“Gaffer Tape” has perhaps the album’s most forward-in-the-mix drum sounds, and maybe the album’s most impressive. The track opens with what sounds like a utility signal echoing out through distant fog. The pads do less work here, but just enough to ornament the beat.
“Queequeg” is one of several breakbeat-filled moments on this album. It’s a nice counterpoint to the rest of the record. What’s interesting about these moments is that they’re never even remotely bombastic. They instead fit right in the pocket of the album – pensive, solitudinal, forward-looking. In these spots, Davorama achieves a sound not unlike Skee Mask.
The title track “Low Enforcement”, like “Beaming”, is one of the more muscular tracks. Still, Davorama does more with less, allowing room for the atmosphere of these pieces to take some space.
“Loop Me In There & Do Not Loop Me Out” is slow, tired, shuffly, even lethargic, bringing the album to a close. Even with a less active kit here, the music is incredibly effective. As the final track, I can’t help but think there is some struggle this album is highlighting, a struggle which continues beyond its confines.
Low Enforcement is out now via co:clear. Buy a digital version from Bandcamp.
TRACKLIST
1. Soulsystem
2. Coexistentialism
3. Store Wars
4. Stress Test
5. Beaming
6. Gaffer Tape
7. Queequeg
8. Low Enforcement
9. Loop Me In There & Do Not Loop Me Out