Dawn Again & Rothmans
Nazare EP
El Diablo’s Social Club
Melbourne disco and house savant Dawn Again, aka Nick Verwey, teams up with Ant Rothmans, proprietor of the fine Liverpudlian imprint that bears his last name and that of some famous ciggies, to unleash a four-track, extended play, vinyl disc of sumptuous, highly-electronic Balearic delights on Mancunian label El Diablo’s Social Club. The globetrotting and exotic nature of this line up is reflected in the record’s contents.
The title track, in its original incarnation, kicks things off. It is a chewy, lurching house tempo thing driven forward by rolling, shuffling beats and possessed of a lysergic tension that is released around the three minute mark by spectral strings that lift the track out of the stratosphere and into the cosmos, of course. A few minutes later some incessant claps really add to the drama and a searing string line leads up to a climax of flanging synth sounds before the track resumes its stalwart march out to the end.
Max Essa’s remix loosens up the tautness of the original’s groove, adding a housier feel with warm strings, striding beats and a churning bass line. As the track progresses Max adds a chiming guitar line that enforces the white Isle vibe of the EP and then some piano that wouldn’t sound out of place on a classic Chicago house cut. Synth strings arch and dive and really peak this tune out nicely before it settles back into its lane and the final stretch.
“Walpole” is track three and another tense, Balearic houser that’s a little tougher than the prior numbers on the EP. Warm washes of strings and arching synths are traded for slapping snare work and Detroitesque synths. Neil Diablo’s remix takes the track into galloping, arpeggiated, Italo disco territory, replete with whooshing sounds and relentless, glassy keyboard stabs. This is the most dramatic of all the tunes on here and would be a great tool for getting the party really kicking.
All four tracks on this excellent record are worthy of a spin or three and could really add some texture, melody and color to any kind of uptempo set. This one drops on October 20th, so keep your eyes peeled around that time. Christopher Orr
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