Wednesday 23 January 2013

Gold Panda - Trust EP


‘Trust’ sees the return of the innovative Chelmsford beat-maker, best known for merging electronics with Indian motifs on Pitchfork favourite ‘Quitters Raga’ and marks a break from his folktronica pretences in favour of the type of slippery rhythms popularised by Flying Lotus and Four Tet on either side of the Atlantic.
For a short EP it manages to cover a lot of styles, from the abrasive ‘Trust Intro’ into the glitchy deep-house cut of ‘Trust’ itself, through to the club orientated foot-shuffler ‘Burnt Out Car in a Forest’ where cowbell and click track combine to create an uneasy late-night ambience.

Though it’s torn straight from the Aphex Twin book of song titles ‘Casyam_59#02’, turns out to be the finest cut on the release. With quavering drawn-out synth notes and just a hint of static round the edges, it’s a spacious piece of brooding, chillout electronica and when the distant thumps drop around the three minute mark they give the EP it’s most sonically engaging moment.

Almost entirely vocal free and with top notch production, ‘Trust’ is an interesting, if slightly unfulfilling, experiment in taking in as many of the prevailing strains of dance music as possible from a musician who seems intent on letting the tunes do the talking.

6

Max Sefton

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