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EP Review: Obstructing The Light - Tom Demac

It hasn't been long since Tom Demac's last release, a collaboration with up and coming Manchester band Silverclub, was giving me dark and dubby dreams of a hot and humid summer. Here we are with a follow-up, this time on Glass Table.

Given my experience of Demac's production work was previously confined to a collaborative effort I was surprised to hear this release. Silverclub's Duncan Edward Jones is on hand for the title track but there is an apparent pop element to not just that one but two of the tracks that make up the EP.

And so vocals weave in-and-out of themselves in a a swirling melange of melodies on 'Four Leaves Right'. It builds to a storming, sweaty climatic middle-third of fuzzy bass and cried vocals - it is just a slight disappointment that from here Demac seems unsure what to do next, the track hanging around for another three-minutes when it has already reached its peak.

'Obstructing The Light' itself feels woozy, a slow hot druggy trudge that feels like energy being sapped away by the time those vocals from Jones turn up. It's a soundtrack to hazy days of sunshine and losing your way and so whilst it won't feature in many peak time DJ sets it captures a disconcertingly paranoid mood.

Finally 'For The Love Of Grey' applies the same formula to a more focused minimal house structure. The same feeling of sunstroke and unease remains but the vocals are (mostly) absent, leaving a loosely structured cacophony of percussion and disjointed piano chords. Its conflicted feeling transcends the rest of the EP to create the real stand out moment of this release.

Obstructing The Light is released through Glass Table on Monday.