- Project Pablo always felt separated from the quirky Vancouver house sound. Though he grew up in the city, his breakthrough moment came after he moved to Montreal, and he's spent the last couple of years busily trying out other ideas. His second EP for the Ninja Tune sub-label Technicolour is, he says, about minimalism: "Focusing on repetition… putting a lot of trust in my initial ideas and letting them play out." There's also a certain cool, high-definition mood, distinct from the bubbly disco indulgence of his best-known tracks. The winsome "Napoletana," "a rough and ready duet between a MFB 522 drum machine and Juno-106," immediately alerts you to the vibe. It's got the Project Pablo ear for melody and signature sweet mood, but the sonics are pristine, every lead flourish and bassline wiggle perfectly placed.
Elsewhere the mood deepens, and Project Pablo flavours his melodic groovers with rich atmosphere. On "Remind Me Tomorrow," dub techno textures bookend a moment of widescreen house melodrama, while "I Heard You Breathing"'s weepy keys unspool over an oceanic eight minutes. The Gigi Masin-style piano interlude "Last Day," recorded at the studio of fellow Montrealers Braids, provides some sentimental respite. But the EP's more exciting when it gets steelier on "Less And Less," a sci-fi 2-step groover with not a hair out of place.
TracklistA1 Napoletana
A2 Remind Me Tomorrow
A3 Last Day
B1 Less And Less
B2 I Heard You Breathing