Jas Shaw - Love Doubled

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  • Five years ago, Simian Mobile Disco's Jas Shaw and James Ford launched Delicacies, a platform for their forays into house and techno. Love Doubled, Shaw's first solo outing on the label, is of a piece with SMD's last Delicacies EP, a collaboration with Roman Flügel named after a Japanese dish of baby bees. Like Hachinoko, some of this swirls with subtle chimes and sweetened computer melodies, but it doesn't entirely depart from Delicacies' love of salty flavours. For the most part, Shaw judges this balance nicely. "Love Doubled" bundles a soothing bell loop over a rolling drum track, whose elastic rhythm shifts into a different gear every 45 seconds or so—Shaw's 4/4 kick pattern collects shakers, toms and hi-hats like an ocean dredger. "It's Not The Clock That Tells The Time" steers things into choppier waters. Curling notes are arranged as a sickly arpeggio, and rub against wall-banging drums to create a tough and mildly disorienting groove. At first, it sounds like tracky SMD fare, but Shaw's guttural, Daniel Avery-esque bass chords burrow deep into the groove, giving it a welcome counterweight. "To Mock A Killing Bird" searches for a bucolic mood—the streaked Boards Of Canada synths almost find it—but its static-coated drums poke at Shaw's relaxing sounds unnecessarily.
  • Tracklist
      01. Love Doubled 02. It's Not The Clock That Tells The Time 03. To Mock A Killingbird
RA