In hindsight, skipping over Royal Oak in our round up of 2014’s best labels was a bit of an oversight. With releases from Leon Vynehall, Space Dimension Controller and Ripperton’s Headless Ghost alias all hitting the target, the imprint was pretty much a buy on sight situation all around. 2015 shows little sign of any let up in quality, with this release from Portuguese act Sabre joining the ranks of releases with the official RA stamp of approval.
There is more than a hint of Lone in its template; Cascaval Breeze has all the good time rave vibes of Coreshine Voodoo and equal in textural pleasure right up to the closing strains of playground chatter and the gentle lap of waves on the beach, while Vigilante headlines with a heavily LFO’d leads before devolving into more organic glockenspiel patter and tribal chanting. Far from pastiche, it is fresh and invigorating.
Furthering that sentiment, the multifaceted nature of the EP showcases itself with the shift into Ghetto Prophet, a track that sits in the holy ground between Detroit principles and contemporary emotive strains. Streets of Love | Blaze is much harder to categorise, partly harkening back to the pastel neon juxtaposition of eighties works such as Jan Hammer’s Crockett’s Theme, tightened up with the angular construction of modern production and influences.
It is as the Boards Of Canada-esque monophonic coda plays the EP out that you realise there is little to criticise, bar the way that Royal Oak is quickly becoming a dominating force on the bank accounts of avid vinyl buyers worldwide. But with quality like this, how can you say no to each and every release?
Morning Worship is out now on Royal Oak, order a vinyl copy from Clone.
TRACKLIST
1. Cascavel Breeze
2. Ghetto Prophet
3. Vigilante
4. Streets Of Love Blaze
Discover more about Sabre and Clone Records on Inverted Audio.