- Vintage house has never sounded as contemporary as it does on Laurine's production debut.
- When Matt Unicomb profiled the Slow Life crew in 2016—then a small collective with five releases under their belt—it was impossible to imagine how influential they would become. They've shifted from insurgent upstarts to scene elders, foundational to a group of DJs, parties and producers who, as Unicomb described it, are "dedicated to digging, loyalty to playing vinyl and long DJ sets." But it's only after nearly a decade that we get treated to productions from label cofounder, Laurine. As one of the key DJs and forces behind the label, Laurine has been responsible for putting out records that have brought together disparate corners of this scene from Europe to Uruguay. She's also become one of the most in-demand DJs around whose recorded sets are likely responsible for adding thousands of dollars of value to dusty corners of Discogs, from deep house to trance to Italo. We hear Laurine's impeccable taste across her shimmering debut 12-inch, Abun.dance, which channels her diverse range of influences into four tracks that both have a timelessness to them but also sound like they could only be released in 2021.
As soon as you hit play on the record, it's clear that Laurine is having as much fun in the studio as she is in the DJ booth. She is both a dedicated digger (Laurine sleeps on a bed raised above record crates), but she also always looks like the person having the best time at the party. But for a label whose ethos is centered around the slow, these tracks are surprisingly full of ravey propulsion and vitality. The breakdown and melody in "DrGold" flirts with progressive house while the electro strut of "Catch The Flow" moves with the grace of a b-boy sliding along marble.
Bringing together these influences, from progressive house to hip-hop, is what makes this record feel so 2021. While some of the tracks on Abun.dance could certainly have slipped out in the '90s (the steamy breakbeat on "Nobody Knows" feels particularly vintage), the lead track, "TOSDL," is a manifesto for the present. Slowly peeling back like onion layers, it's the type of song you'd hear out and wonder what sort of mixing magic is happening behind the booth because it seems impossible that so many good things could exist in one track. Crisp hand drum rolls, sure, but also that breakbeat? A lovely quantized melodic hook and rave chords? And, wait, was that a cheeky spinback? The track, in short, is a perfect encapsulation of what Slow Life does so well, providing a criss-crossing itinerary of dance music's history that ends up sounding undeniably contemporary.
TracklistA1 T.O.S.D.L
A2 DrGol
B1 Catch The Flow
B2 Nobody Knows