Darling Farah - Body

‘Body’ is the debut long player from 20 year old Darling Farah. Born in Detroit before relocating to the United Arab Emirates he is now in London, where in 3 short months this innovative debut was written. Deep, sophisticated and expertly reduced ‘Body’ showcases an artist striding forward at a rare pace, able to create almost overwhelming emotional dynamics, his is a world of daring introversion, increasing possibilities and resistance to classification. Traversing the Techno landscape with beautiful continuity the album navigates from beatless ambience, pulsing rhythms and machinist teutonics through dancefloor beats and cyclic 4/4 to Detroit soul and dub techno. Cohesive and effortless it will undoubtedly solidify the hype around it’s precociously talented producer.

Fusing the purist aesthetics of his native Detroit with mechanical soul, metallic sounds and atmospheric mysticism ‘Body’ is an album brimming in sensation, tempered skill and emotional mastery. Spacious voids filled with decaying reverb contain sparse arrangements, machine-like characteristics and subtle euphorics. Dream-like textures expand and contract in three dimensions, illuminated with delayed pyrotechnics they contrast with taut rhythms and pneumatic grooves. Lucid yet hypnotic, sonic memories grow and recycle organically as delicate changes and subtle variations on a considered palette focus their effect on the mind while effortlessly moving the body.

Opening with 'North', the cavernous atmospherics begin and spacious tension builds around the tough sparse beat. On 'Realised' a bouncing rhythm driven by the hiss of pistons and a tightly reverbed 808 kick buckles under swelling reverb and drowns in crackling digital ambience. The deep and rolling 'Fortune' features a more minimal beat, one lost in warm bass, rich reverb and lush enveloping synths. "Forget It" rides a dusty lo-fi 2 step garage skeleton while the sub bass moves creating imagined swing in the intoxicated haze. Breathy vocal shards and long barely-there synth melodies haunt the stylish title track 'Body', it's digital textures evoke lost industrial sentiment and move like ghostly transmissions around the gripping groove.

On 'Curse' complex pounding techno is slowed to a motorik chug, detail shining in the gaps exposed. It bristles with frayed machine patterns as synths stabs and drive it forward into the a beat-less arpeggiated synth scape of 'Aaangel’, who’s sublime pads and primal harmonies exhilarate and feel synapse synced. The dub techno of "All Eyes" fills a empty shell with remembered chords decaying around rhythmic mechanics while ‘Bruised’ offers one of the most rowdy and disorientating moments on the album, from the frozen ambience a darkside rush of growling bass dominates and a vocal snippet announces "This is it". Stoic but pacy "Fortune Part II" sees pulsing bass run back lit against step sequenced synths and sporadic kicks before "Telling Me Everything" closes the album, it’s synths blowing like a desert wind as a hollowed out kick drifts wounded out into the vast final expanse.

Be the first to review this record.

Name: *

Email address:

You don't have to provide your email address, but without it we can't give you a prize if this is the month's best review!

Rating: *

-- Please rate this item -- 1* - Utter shite! 2* - Must do better! 3* - Average 4* - Liked it! 5* - Loved it!

Review / comment: *

Keep it civil, please!

Please enter the following code *

Submit this review / comment