- On records like XLB, Untitled / Footloose and Thaw Cycle, Pearson Sound's self-titled label has been a haven for anthems. These releases contain some of the best-loved UK dance music of recent years. So it's easy to forget that the label has also released some of David Kennedy's most outré work. 2013's "REM," which placed you too close to a speeding Formula 1 car, preceded the dry, dubby, minimalist tendencies of his debut LP. Raindrops was a 7-inch of emotionally vulnerable synth miniatures with unlikely staying power. Robin Chasing Butterflies continues in this vein, trading audacious dance floor moments for sensitive melancholy and bittersweet resignation.
This comes through in the starry synths in the title track and the airy keys of "Eels." Though texturally different, they pick out minor scale notes with the same sensibility, which ties them together while suggesting a larger thematic arc. Kennedy is yanking the heartstrings, yet it feels pure rather than sentimental or cloying. For all its beauty, the title track's rhythmic core almost demands a beats re-edit. Kennedy twists the tone of his LP into a syncopated electro step, aided by some welcome flanger on the hi-hats. "Heal Me" also has beats, but it's subdued and sombre, as if he's trying to turn the afterparty into a tearful comedown.
"Eels" is his most accomplished ambient work to date, traversing dynamics, textures and spaces like a budding Editions Mego artist. Kennedy seems hell-bent on providing tunes for every part of your set. This 12-inch might not get rinsed as much as its predecessors, but it could linger in the memory longer.
TracklistA1 Robin Chasing Butterflies
B1 Eels
B2 Heal Me