Yunx - In The Heat of The Night

Yunx is a collaboration between Iain Law and Darren Taberner, and the latest release on the burgeoning Artificial Intelligence label. Having released the Bill Odyssey EP a while back, In The Heat Of The Night extends the cinematic downbeat style of what the duo have previously accomplished.

The Early Bird Catches The Worm is a good example; blending shadowy, filmic, ambient melodies over a simple breakbeat. There’s some nice vocal sampling and manipulation intergrated into the music too, which injects a sense of urbane atmosphere. This is very much along the lines of what has become the stereotypical sound of Warp/Reflex, but I can’t pin a more specific artistic influence on Yunx.

Fancy A Few Beers? is another strong track, opening with some jazzy guitar licks and prominent Squarepusher style bass lines – typified on early albums like Hard Normal Daddy. A fast breakbeat drives the track along, as unifying Robert Fripp-style electric guitar slithers emphasise a rock/funk hybrid of styles.

In fact, Yunx’ funk element is always present on the album, even if a little understated. My favourite track on the album is the excellent Dis Go Funk Ur Ass, the song titles on In The Heat Of The Night are rather inappropriate - this track is not nearly as excitable as its title suggests, but it is what can be described as a smooth, punchy, loosely-danceable track, with a strong filmic element and an addictive synth melody soaring over wah wah guitars, soft keyboard tones and fast percussion.

From here, however, In The Heat Of The Night is a slight disappointment. The standard of musicianship remains solid and the music is beautifully mixed, but the tracks seem to become a little uniform and bland. Cheeky Toke En Route, Getta Groove On… and 5 To 2 Special lack the adventure of the opening trio of tracks, and simply don’t carry enough memorable hooks.

Chip Shop Shuffle reprises the album, a low-fi atmospheric track with a solitary, improvised guitar solo scoring its own mazy direction throughout. It carries quite a haunting feel, with an exquisite soft beat and deliberate, vinyl-scratched surface noise, although again it seems to be rather self-absorbed and disconnected from the listener. This is firmly contradicted by the in-you-face techno handclaps and spiralling analogue keys of the closing Only Way Back (Is To Walk). Again, the synths carry a nice ambient feel – but the track is nothing remarkable.

Overall, In The Heat Of The Night is a slick, seductive album, which probably should be better than it actually is – but is still very enjoyable in parts.

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