- The UK producer ends his latest album cycle with two winding, unpredictable house grooves that are among the best dance music he's ever made.
- Sometime around the release of Rare, Forever, Leon Vynehall held a Reddit AMA where he seemed almost relieved to be able to discuss everyday topics like his favourite books or cuts of sushi—vital Vynehall trivia. It was a short remark about his music, though, that stuck with me: "On Rare, Forever I wanted the music to feel fluid and ever-changing. Never static. Always on the move—like droplets of water finding a pathway along the palm of your hand." His recently released Endless (I&II) EP, which he describes as "a full stop on what has been a fulfilling and gratifying time in the Rare, Forever chapter," flows with the same aquatic philosophy. While perhaps less of a flex than the freeform experimentation of its predecessor, the mercurial house of Endless (I&II) reminds us of how near-faultless Vynehall has always been at the fundamentals.
The EP opens with the rattling hand percussion of "Endless (I)," eight minutes of fitful dance music that Vynehall hopes will "sit just as well on a big outdoor stage as it would in a dark dingy club." He weaves that feeling into the music with a lurid midsection that peels the roof off the venue, letting in a blinding natural light. It's similar to Vynehall's previous anthem, "Mothra," while the lengthy, quivering basslines evoke Joy O's recent work.
Acting as an inverse counterpart, "Endless (II)" is tentative and dreamy. Sharp hats tick away like the hands of a clock over a haze of indecipherable whispers and viscous, gurgling bass stabs. Sudden bursts of discordant synth lurch out without warning to ensure the Workshop-esque tech house never outstays its welcome. If part of the idea was to say goodbye to an era in a delicately grandiose manner, then Vynehall delivers. There's a universe between any old 15 minutes of house music and the way that Vynehall's effervescent style makes everything here feel perpetual and full of life, almost immortal.
Tracklist01. Endless (I)
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03. Endless (II)