- Nite Fleit's debut album features electro at its sweetest and most sour, split across two halves that emphasize the extremes of the genre.
- "Overload," the first track from Alysha Fleiter’s debut album, starts out familiar enough: a stargazing arpeggio darts in between 808s, like the softer ends of the CPU catalog. But then she goes all in on the emotions as lush, pillowy chords sweep underneath a spoken word vocal that recounts the colour palette of a dream.
For a producer who has released on Helena Hauff's label and shared wax with Umwelt, "Overload" might come across as surprisingly vulnerable, even intimate. But Fleiter is a versatile and, above all, appealing artist as likely to make bristling electro workouts as she is windswept soundscapes that are as delicate as melting icicles. Split into two halves, Day Fleit / Nite Fleit highlights contrasting emotions and sounds of Fleiter's work as she pushes electro tropes to their limit.
Of the two sides of the record, it's the soaring arpeggios and wistful second-wave Detroit chords of the Day Fleit that offers the most delectable pleasures The tracks on this half of the record take inspiration from Delia Derbyshire's The Dreams sound collages where spoken word poetry mingle with pulsing synth notes, white noise feedback and hypnotic chords. The Dreams is a surprisingly beautiful record and Fleiter captures its unique sense of introspection and fragility on tracks like "Morning Song," where synths mirror bird chatter and chords undulate like the slow break of red and orange on the night sky.
Although the Day Fleit floats happily in the ether, it still has an edge. Fleiter has been open about her battles with insomnia, finding comfort in the people-less hours of the night. The Stranger Things chords and player-piano line on "Dark End Of The Street," or the minor key lead on her collaboration with Mesmé, "Like I Used to Be," both suggest an eerie, half-lidded state, like a feeling of fatigue that won't go away.
That said, if you like your electro rough and industrial, then the Nite Fleit side is the one for you. Filled with EBM kick drums and heartburn-inducing 303s, the second half is Fleiter hammering it out. Halfway into "Airs And Grace," it feels like the whole track is about to dissolve into a bath of frothing acid. But just before everything sputters out, Fleiter brings the drums back in at a higher BPM, turning it into a deadly trial-by-squelch. And the "Mentasm" stabs and breakbeat on "Paranoid Energy" would work perfectly on a Natural Sciences or Brokntoys release.
It's hard to talk about Fleiter without at least mentioning her former roommate Jordon Alexander, AKA Mall Grab. Fleiter shot to prominence in 2018 after she released an EP of sawtooth electro on Alexander's Steel City Dance Discs and began touring the world with him shortly thereafter, eventually landing a gig downstairs at Berghain just before the world shut down. Although she's emerged from the shadow of her mentor, releasing Nite Fleit / Day Fleit as the first-ever alum on Steel City Dance Discs is a poetic turn, paying homage to her past while paving a new path for her arsenal of 808 loops and 303 lines.
Tracklist01. Overload
02. Like I Used To Be feat. Mesmé
03. Desensitisation
04. The Flower Dance feat. Partiboi69
05. Dark End Of The Street
06. A Morning Song
07. Double Digits
08. Nah
09. Airs & Graces
10. Paranoid Energy
11. Bold Poke
12. Serious Effect