- An ambivert is a person who demonstrates both extrovert and introvert qualities. Lone's tracks are the dance music equivalent, setting giddy rave euphoria against post-Boards Of Canada introspection. On the three-part Ambivert Tools series, this drama plays out across unusually functional dance floor scenery. Inspiration comes from the producer's Magicwire label, which has recently become a lo-fi house hub. The other two Ambivert records riffed directly on the style's down-the-line formula. The third part remains a joyous '90s retrofest, but other influences, particularly UK rave, jostle back into frame.
You hear it loudest on "Temples," whose beefed-up "Hot Pants" break makes for the best groove in the series. The stuff going on up top—a dramatic tom-tom flourish here, a glistening ethno-flute line there—is spicy, too. The word "tool" is often permission to prize utility over originality. On Volume Three Lone delivers the clichés, but they're so vivid that the effect is almost surreal. "Hyper Seconds" is rhythmically straighter, but in contrast to the hip-twitching New York garage-isms of past EPs, this one is pure space music. A full-spectrum confection of twinkling chords and diva "aah"s, it's the Ambivert series' Rainbow Road moment, an epic cruise through a candy-coloured cosmos of Lone's invention.
TracklistA Temples
B Hyper Seconds