Jacksonville: The Twilight Industries EP
Doppler

The Twilight Industries arrives mere weeks after Edinburgh-based producer Chris Lyth's previous Jacksonville EP Sometime Shortwave (also on Doppler). Like its predecessor, the new one's a two-track affair of considerable craft that plays like mood music for modern-day clubbers. “Party on Strange Street” rolls in on a deliciously slinky mid-tempo house swing that Lyth then gradually fleshes out with warm chords, subtle bass flavour, and soulful vocal interjections. There's an appealingly relaxed vibe to the track, which even gets a tad dubby in its middle section when the beats briefly drop away. Percolating more determinedly by comparison, “Twilight Industries” opts for slightly spacier climes in its embrace of synthetic colour while also revealing a raw and earthy side in the thrust of its jacking pulse. Throughout its eight-minute run, Lyth amplifies its trippy feel by adding swirls of echoing voices and deepens the track's charging groove by working analogue drum playing into its percussive mix. Just as it has in the past, Lyth's smooth Jacksonville sound again goes down so easily it requires next to no effort to get behind.

February 2012