Erell Ranson - Everything Needs to Be Clear

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  • Erell Ranson knows how to create tension even when there's nothing identifiably tense, in isolation, in his sound. In "Everything Needs to Be Clear," he sets simple elements side by side—a rubbery synth riff, mellow back-and-forth waves of melancholy ambience, scattered snares, syncopated hi-hats—and lets them start tugging away at each other until they seem to arrange themselves, like a suspension bridge held up by bits of torque gleaned from junctures of joints and cables. There's something very plainly workaday about it, but it's deceptively difficult to actually do. Ranson, from France, clearly has a lot invested in the deeper and more soulful sounds of Detroit, but not solely. The title track makes room for the Motor City's love for stuff like Vangelis, but "Sandcastle" hits hard in more forceful techno fashion, with an arsenal of spastic snares and a desiccated kind of motorik drive. Sounding peculiarly chirpy and more like M83 than anything else, "So Strange to Explain" suggests that Ranson hasn't fully found a style to call his own. But there's good evidence here of a search very much worth continuing.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Everything Needs To Be Clear A2 So Strange To Explain B1 Everything Needs to Be Clear (Rennie Foster’s Deep Clarification) B2 Sandcastle
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