It wasn't long ago that I was swooning a little over Guy Gerber's solo artist mix for Fabric, his self-professed break-up record so this EP is a welcome return.
The title track retains that same tumbling introspectiveness of Fabric 64 - wounded bass lines that sound like a slowed-down Peter Hook bleeding through the walls. The synths whine, forming a duet with the guitar work to pick out fragile melodies like early work from the Edge. But whilst the track makes reference to post-punk this is all modern and electronic. dOP's Jaw provides vocals here and he pulls off a performance that sounds well outside of his comfort zone but is better for it: naked and alone.
On the flip side Midland turns 'Steady' into something tighter and leaner. The thick bass builds to a climatic finale that manages to make a very sympathetic dance floor stormer out of Gerber's emotionally charged original.
Clarion North, who guested on Fabric 64, provides a remix of one of the tracks from that album that he didn't originally feature on - 'The Golden Sun And The Silver Moon'. It was one of the highlights on the album and Clarian North, one half of the Canadian duo Footprintz, opens it up and layers in lots of echo and a more functional beat, making it slightly more dance floor friendly but retaining the alienation of the original. The digital release also gets the original, in full length form.
Steady EP is released on Monday through Supplement Facts.
