Dauwd What's There

A repress of Dauwd’s 2011 12” for Pictures Music, presumably off the back of some renewed interest following his debut release on Kompakt earlier this year.  If that release, ‘Kindlinn’, saw a more conscious effort to trim off the intricacies of his studious, late-nite productions in favour of a more direct dance floor immediacy, here you get him in full 4am mode with a set of tracks that encourage some deep listening and seem keen to impress with their flawless production sheen.

The first thing that came to mind when listening to this was the technically detailed yet soulful work of long-time Ghostly International artist Lusine; the atmospheric backdrop is there, the sliced snippets of breathy pitched-up vocal and the microtonal finger-snapping and teeth-clicking percussion in near-focus, everything tastefully dipped in the appropriate amount of reverb. Joy Orbison’s material for Aus is probably the most glaring reference. Coming somewhere from the hazy outer-edges of the house/2-step sound, it may be too slick for some, but fans of Four Tet, Mount Kimbie and Holy Other will have plenty to get their teeth into here.