- Even in a scene known for its collaborative nature, Bristol's Kowton has had a busy 2013, working with Peverelist, Hyetal and Julio Bashmore. Since last year, his music has occupied a supremely effective middle ground between grime, early dubstep and the earthy house of STL and Levon Vincent, with recent single TFB going off like a cluster bomb. His solo cut on this collaborative 12-inch with Julio Bashmore, "And What," doesn't hit quite as hard, but it's a marvelous addition to his catalogue nonetheless, all razor handclaps and subs that buzz violently through overdriven speaker cones.
The wide gap between Kowton's raw-to-the-bone jack tracks and the smooth, stadium-optimised curves of Bashmore's music makes the two seem unlikely bedfellows. On "Mirror Song," though, they pinpoint an undeniably effective middle ground. Kowton's drums arrive with typically martial force, but their impact is softened a little by a bulbous, booming Bashmore bassline and an earworm of a vocal hook, which pushes the track towards anthemic territory. It might not be tremendously surprising, but the sheer disjoint between the two—with Kowton's distortion corroding the otherwise catchy accessibility of Bashmore—makes "Mirror Song" beguilingly peculiar, as big room tracks go. The "Techno Mix" finds Kowton relocating it to the basements where his music feels most comfortable, slim-lining the mix and stretching the vocal out into something approaching an anguished whine.
Tracklist A1 Mirror Song
A2 And What?
B Mirror Song (Techno Remix)