- At this point, you can't help but want to have a new Levon Vincent release on the shelves just to see what ridiculous title he's going to lend to his deep house/techno hybrids. "Woman Is the Devil" (amen, brother) "Six Figures" (it's what he jokingly claims he makes from his hugely successful tracks), "Invisible Bitchslap" (he's not a misogynist, trust) and, now, "Polar Bear Make Nice With That Sea Lion"? On the other hand, though, you've also got "Early Reflections," "1000 Miles from Home" and, now, "Solemn Days"—all tunes that more accurately reflect the moody, dubby delays that seem to be the cornerstone of his work over the past few years.
This duality is the secret to Vincent's work I think—a determined musician that has had enough tragedy in his life to know not to take it too seriously. Because despite the hardness with which he produces—and DJs—Vincent's tracks are leavened with a melodic touch that give it a different resonance than, say, the Berghain/Ostgut axis that he is so often compared to. "Polar Bear," for instance, melts that age-old house chord progression into the mist of Basic Channel-esque dub delay and, for just a brief moment, a voice emerges to wordlessly utter something—"I don't"?—even if you're not sure exactly what it is.
"Solemn Days" comes first, though, and it's the stunner of the duo, knocking together floppy metal synths, a ship's malfunctioning fog horn and a beat you might call hard house—if that term didn't have such terrible connotations. It's somehow a song that you play at peak-time, and one that you play to slowly slide out of that mode as well due to its generous outro. But that's Vincent in a nutshell—at the moment, at least—a man whose productions can't quite be called anything except Levon Vincent music. It's a rare, and special, place to be.
Tracklist A Solemn Days
B Polar Bear Make Nice With That Sea Lion