The Dusk Recital features SDS’ signature sound and style enhanced and more colorful than ever.
Surely I’m not the only one who’s been wondering how a beat-oriented effort of Drew Sullivan’s Slow Dancing Society project would sound like. Well, finally, here is the answer. If you thought Sullivan would just throw some lovely beats into his effervescent, soulful mix of ambient-gaze, think again. It’s not just the beats that mark a new direction for SDS, everything in this EP feels fresh. The six tracks reveal a new region in SDS’ sonic universe. Less hazy but not less dreamy, more accessible but still full of studio wizardry and nuance.
Described by Hidden Shoal as “in part an instrumental homage to the mainstream dream-pop of the 90s”, and released just a few months after the excellent sixth SDS album, The Cogent Sea, came out, The Dusk Recital features SDS’ signature sound and style enhanced and more colorful than ever. Richer guitar work, spacier synth and keyboard behavior, caressing saxophone drifts, beautifully combined with crisp, carefully crafted beat architecture. Sullivan wears his influences on his sleeve in these tracks (as usual with a bit of ’80s scents), but not to the extent of sounding imitative and hackneyed. It’s all very tasteful, poured just in the right doses.
Sweet, but not too sweet, wistful, but not melancholic, The Dusk Recital provides another distinctive, emotionally open and atmospherically charged SDS affair. Highly addictive. Highly recommended.
The Dusk Recital is available on Hidden Shoal. [Bandcamp]
