- Calum Lee's funky swagger has never fit into any niche, which puts his latest move in perspective. His new label is meant to represent the next stage in his life after graduating from university. It's appropriate that he launches PLMN with "Talk Louder," one of his most idiosyncratic tracks. At only 116 BPM, it's slower than anything else like it. Broken, bass-heavy and swinging like a wrecking ball, it has the oomph of dubstep but at a much slower pace. His drum programming is brilliant, though his craftsmanship is undercut by a chattering vocal sample, a hook shoehorned into a tune that didn't need one.
Things get wonkier on the flipside. "Ice Parade"'s drums thunder and ricochet in a chasm of reverb, aided by all kinds of weird FX, somewhere between a dub record and Rashad Becker's music. It's engaging and unpredictable, and it points the way forward for a producer who is starting to show what he's really capable of.
TracklistA Talk Louder
B Ice Parade