Bomb the Bass
Back to Light
!K7
In the warm, dark confines of an underground club that would only ever see artificial light, you expect to find this sort of melodic dance music infused with mysterious vocals. The finish is smooth, the colors muted, and the beat urgent yet tied to the revealing of a greater event – the birth of the solar system, the emergence of continents, and the studied flow of a bead of sweat into the cleft between the breasts of that blonde in the leather bustier drinking a pale blue glowing drink. Like all of these electronic compositions, no song stands alone, no song flows from a single composer, and no song has not been subject to sweetening and relayering and improvement. The common note here is Tim Simenon, collaborating with Gui Boratto. Yet, each track bears a stamp from another artist; the word “featuring” is in every title. Additional collaborators range from Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore to Kelley Polar and Sara O’Shura (The Battle of Land and Sea).
It was getting on to a gray northern European winter in Amsterdam, and Simenon headed to summer in Rio to pull this album together in Boratto’s new home studio. The result is a simmering program that keeps the time signatures balanced and symmetrical, but pleasantly diverse in detail. O’Shura’s contribution to “Up the Mountain” takes us over hills, through streams and fears, and in “Boy Girl” we’ll never get sick. Songs all have that sort of positive spin, leaving the listener uplifted yet exhausted. It’s danceable heaven.
Back to Light: http://back-to-light.com • Bomb the Bass: http://www.myspace.com/bombthebass
