Barac ‎- When We See One EP

  • A leading minimal producer strips his sound down to rhythm and groove.
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  • "It's sometimes not necessary to attach some instrument to a rhythm if it's well done and the groove and bassline is perfect," Barac told me two years ago. Back then he was honing a lush and detailed sound, so his tracks were much more than the groove and bassline. When We See One, Barac's new EP for Sepp and Nu Zau's Uvar label, is the Romanian artist at his most reduced, presenting a collection of tracks light on melody but heavy on flair, the kind of tunes that don't need "some instrument" to hypnotise a dance floor. It's no surprise these tracks made it onto Sepp and Nu Zau's label, as their sets are some of the most reduced around. But Barac still manages to squeeze subtle hooks out of these tunes, which stay interesting for their side-long runtimes. The scraps of melody that make it onto the EP mostly sit in the low-end. "Song Written For Reny" and "Maintain Eye Contact," the two standout tracks, have thick, wooshing basslines, probably pulled from Barac's Buchla modular synth. Their otherworldly sound, best captured through the kind of Funktion-One stacks used at Sunwaves, is soft but packs enough character to catch your ear, gliding across the percussion with a lazy swagger. Anyone who has caught a Barac set in the past few years might recognise "Maintain Eye Contact," a killer slice of minimal topped off with a well-chosen vocal sample that syncs with the percussion whenever it kicks up a gear. Thanks to the great balance between the abstract and the emotional, a rare thing in this scene, it will likely be one of the most-played minimal tracks of the coming months. The other tracks are more bass-focussed. The bassline on "Cantarea Celor 3 Tineri" splutters and splurts, wobbling with the momentum of dubstep. "Toponimul" returns to the atmospheric sound Barac perfected with tracks like "Marea Neagră" and "Fram, Ursul Polar" on Variety Of Different Feelings, a 2015 album that's arguably the best minimal LP of the past few years. It's a touching finale that sees Barac generate intense feeling from a framework that's even leaner than usual.
  • Tracklist
      A Song Written For Reny B Maintain Eye Contact C Cantarea Celor 3 Tineri D Toponimul
RA