- Shining, shimmering pads and lush layers of ambient atmosphere abound in the latest from Leeds producer Ewan Smith, who is seemingly hell-bent on convincing everyone he hails from Berlin rather than the heart of rain-sodden, tea-swilling Yorkshire. Except that he's not; a few fairly Berlin-based titles aside, he's just quietly and modestly doing his thing and letting people make their own assumptions about his heritage, both musically and geographically (his full biog is a particularly well-judged "You don't care").
Four tracks of slow, meandering 4/4 electronica greet the listener on Meet Me at Teufelsberg. "Alone in Berlin" sets the musical tone with lugubrious restraint, occasionally flecked with more uplifting moments of intense beauty. "Crosseyed & Painless" is much more upbeat, with a rolling bassline and intensely prominent hats. It's a departure from his usual sound and seemingly takes its cues from Daft Punk's "Phoenix" and "High Fidelity."
What stands out on Meet Me is the depth of the production. Even though much of the production is stripped back—and the tracks don't actually do a massive amount in terms of progression—it's captivating and luscious to the extreme. With "Jigsaw," Smith plays on this melodic escapism for the first few minutes of the track, swirling you into paradise before bringing in a bass stab direct from the bowels of the earth. "Eidelon," though, represents the darkest and arguably most satisfying moment on the EP, the sinister mood epitomised by the unintelligible vocal wailings that frequently interject between the dubby, muted drums and distant pads.
TracklistA1 Alone in Berlin
A2 Crosseyed & Painless
B1 Jigsaw
B2 Eidolon