Willis Anne - Movement

  • Uptempo house from a creative French producer.
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  • Every time I put on Movement, I'm taken aback by how fast the title track is. It doesn't feel like that in my memory. That's probably down to its disposition, which is all creamy '90s Chicago house—lolling vocal pads, flanged hi-hats, hand-played snare work. But it spreads out over a skittering, almost insectoid groove, whose insistent pitter-patter wouldn't be out of place in a techno set. This is the theme of Movement, LAN founder Willis Anne's first EP for UK giant Shall Not Fade: smooth house at heart-palpitating speeds. Anne's approach ranges from hectic to breezy. "Unison" is another highlight—its drums bounce and scatter with the force of jungle, but trippy delay effects cause each drum hit to ricochet from one end of the stereo spectrum to the other. It's both disorienting and claustrophobic, and it makes me think of the Juke Bounce Werk crew, who are at the top of the heap when it comes to this kind of uptempo dance music fusion. Elsewhere, "Direct Effect" sounds kind of like Cajmere playing a pinball machine, with more dreamy chords up against ecstatic drums and cute little sound effects, while the more chilled-out "Passage" ends the EP with a spacey groove that sounds like it's fighting against a current. Fast, calm, collected, abrasive, smooth—it's these contradictions that make Movement more than your average house EP.
  • Tracklist
      01. Movement 02. Direct Effect 03. Unison 04. Passage
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