- Some noticeable trends have trickled through ESP Institute's output these past couple of years. One is the drum programming, which is robust but never overbearing. This is partly down to the influence of label founder Lovefingers, real name Andrew Hogge—he spent much of his youth drumming in various bands and admits he's picky about kicks and snares. There's also a shared sense of melody, one that's lodged somewhere between playful and bittersweet. Synths channeling marimbas and steel drums usually do the trick: take the extravagant switch-up five minutes into Tambien's 2014 tune "Are You In Touch w/ Varan?," or the more gentle ascension of Powder's "Humid Wind," or basically everything on Young Marco's Biology album.
The melodic instrument of choice on ESP Institut'e's latest 12-inch, Damien Lynch's The Heights / Safe House, is the kalimba, a type of a thumb piano from Africa. It provides an incredibly pretty introduction to "Safe House," the EP's standout moment. The rest of the track grows around it like ivy, with a synth arpeggio eventually overpowering the kalimba. A-side "The Heights" takes longer to reveal itself. "Relax, relax, feel it against the backs of your legs," says a sampled voice, whose arrival cues the track to gently burst into life. The Will Powers-style meditation/self-help vocal has been done before in dance music—not least by Tornado Wallace on his 2013 Thinking Allowed EP for ESP Institute—and it sounds decent here, but the track doesn't equal the charm of "Safe House."
TracklistA The Heights
B Safe House