- A sizable chunk of the Lobster Theremin catalogue has pursued a particular mood: nocturnal lo-fi, but prettily so. Route 8's This Raw Feeling is the first release on the label to really nail this sound. Route 8 has been exploring similar ideas for a while, for Lobster Theremin, Nous and Hungary's Farbwechsel. (He's part of the Budapest scene that has yielded fellow dreamy house operators S. Olbricht and Imre Kiss.) But his latest features his most assured productions to date, striking an excellent balance between sad synth waft and deceptively muscular drums.
Though these ingredients are constant, their configuration changes. "The Sunrise In Her Eyes" is house, and Route 8 lodges a mooching Larry Heard-like bassline low in the mix. "It Doesn't Matter Any More" is powered by a compact electro beat. Its glossy chords are all the more gorgeous for the squiggly bass turning somersaults down below. Elsewhere, the balance is fractionally less precise. "This Raw Feeling" is just a bit too heavily laden, its thicker chords and snare drum tattoos gumming up its sparse groove. "Ash Dub," meanwhile, is so minimal it almost disappears into its own twilit backdrop. These are minor quibbles, however, on a record of unusual elegance.
TracklistA1 Sunrise In Her Eyes
A2 This Raw Feeling
B1 It Doesn't Matter Anymore
B2 Ash Dub