- Trikk's debut LP sounds like the DFA and Night Slugs crew got together for a jam at Innervisions HQ.
- Ever since "Rej"'s arpeggio burrowed its way into clubland's collective consciousness, Innervisions has become shorthand for a certain style of melodic dance music. You know the type: extended breakdowns, fizzing synths, basslines snaking in and out with theatrical flair. The label is either your go-to for catharsis, the butt of gentle jokes, or maybe both. Either way, it's hard to deny that it does this sound better than the army of imitators. If you need a sunset moment, just queue up any track off their ongoing Secret Weapons series on the CDJs and watch the punters reach for their phones.
Bruno Deodato, AKA Trikk, has been a staple of the Innervisions multiverse for the better part of a decade. Deodato's early career saw him release tunes on George Fitzgerald's ManMakeMusic and Glasgow institution Optimo before settling into a groove of emotionally-charged (if occasionally innocuous) deep house primed for the big room. Following a double-pack for the label in 2017 that refined this sound, his debut LP, Fauna & Flora, is something of a curveball. For the first minute, the quivering sweep of guitar feels like more of the same, but then the opening track shifts gear into something part-country, part-metal, clanging its way across the stereo spectrum with a metallic abandon. From Baile funk to post-punk, Fauna & Flora is an ambitious catalogue of Deodato's tastes and influences, and one of Innervisions' most unexpected releases.
The opening suite, for example, is closer to mid-'00s New York dance punk than contemporary Ibiza tech house, and Trikk really lets loose with some skinny-jean bravado on tracks like "Absolute Body Control" and "Don't Forget To Breathe." On the former, he teams up with Jimi Jules in a homage to the Swiss synth pop group of the same name, but the effect is bigger and catchier. It's not quite "House Of Jealous Lovers," but could certainly make a play for a "Hold On" level of hit.
But Fauna & Flora isn't all indie angst. When Deodato moved to London from Porto in the early 2010s, I'd hazard a guess that he was hitting up fabric on both Saturday and Friday nights. RA's Stephen Worthy nicely summed up an early Trikk 12-inch as "bass-driven, 2-step-inspired dark house." Deodato updates that formula with a run of tracks somewhere between vintage Jam City with sub-heavy bass, strange drum programming and Mind Against-level synth drama. The percussion on "Pandemonio" clangs at slightly off-beat intervals underneath the subs, creating a carnivalesque chaos.
You can't fault Deodato's ambitions. Fauna & Flora goes big. And when you swing for the fences like this, you're bound to have a few misses. Other than the somewhat forgettable Tale Of Us-style "Regado," even when he fumbles, the tracks are still interesting. "Yard Judge" has a toothy electric guitar line and cascading hand drums that give it some motorcycle jacket and straight razor energy even with the goofy "It's your life / It's your vice / It's your price" refrain. I also can't make heads or tails of the Fleet Foxes-esque pastoral harmonies on the collaboration with Feon, "Ouro (Love Trippin)," but I'm here for the new wave chug. Did I expect an Innervisions release in 2023 to combine post-dubstep bass weight with dance punk guitar licks? No. Am I mad about it? Not in the slightest.
Tracklist01. Mapa
02. Don't Forget To Breathe
03. Ordem
04. Absolute Body Control feat. Jimi Jules
05. Regado
06. Yard Judge
07. Mata Mata feat. Gabriel Massan
08. Pandemonio
09. TXKX
10. Ouro (Love Trippin) feat. Feon