Awash with floaty processed guitars and trance inducing blurs of electronic ambience, the tracks are downtempo, laid back and deep with an air of reserved technical accomplishment in the production stakes.
Not the usual thing you might expect from Slime, a label generally associated with the business end of the DJ market with releases from Phaelah, Materia and [Sic] to name a few under its belt. This release sails off to much more contemplative, adventurous and considered waters however. Awash with floaty processed guitars and trance-inducing blurs of electronic ambience, the tracks are downtempo, laid back and deep with an air of reserved technical accomplishment in the production stakes. It really reminds me of the Kid 606 album ‘PS I Love You’, which, after the sonic paint stripper that was ‘Down With The Scene’ was a display of maturity and reservation. Did I mention that it is deep? It’s deep! There are some bass frequencies in there that are outstanding.
Eyelove is a Californian artist who, from his biog seems to be something of a child of the universe, abounding as it is with celestial references and general karmic goodwill. Apparently he has been known to burn sage during his live performances, providing the audience with an extra sensory experience. All that on top of the love vibrations he brings! It sort of makes sense when you listen to the EP, there is a bit of a ‘universal love and positive vibration’’vibe to it. Don’t get me wrong, this is not some wishy washy new-age whale music or anything like that. In fact, it is extremely well produced, clearly a lot of time and thought has gone into the making of this EP. It sounds polished, everything has a glistening veneer to it. Although there are some pretty hefty bass tones in this EP, I don’t think Eyelove really fits into the whole Bass Music genre. It’s certainly not dance floor fodder, more like watching the sunrise over the sea. Or whatever touching moment you’d care to bring to mind.
There are elements of the mid ’90s Balearic sound in Mysticism, if I can say that without sounding too deprecating. A slowed down 4/4 beat with great brushes of glossy synth swirls and fizzing chords and maybe a slightly hint of an ’80’s vibe occasionally. Lots of guitar lines and gentle licks also abound. In fact, the whole EP is quite gentle.
My favourite track is actually the remix of “Lapis Lazuli” by the New York trio Archie Palego. They’ve chopped up bits of the guitar line and re-sequenced it in a way that reminds me of early Squarepusher and the mellower side of Kid606, both of which really appeal to me. It also has some beautiful sax work hidden away in there too, I’m not sure if it is sampled or written and recorded for the track, but it sounds fantastic either way. I’m a sucker for that every time.
This EP is a significant deviation from previous output from Slime records and I’ll be very interested to hear what will come after this. It’s nice to see labels who are not afraid to branch out in new directions.
Mysticism is available on Slime (3/19/2012). Buy at Juno or Amazon.
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