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Bonobo's Flashlight EP is a worthy successor to the North Borders
House | Monday 8th December 2014 | Cristina
Bonobo wades in and around the more maximalist waters of deep house. Filling his compositions with organic instrumentation and genuine diversity has allowed him to stand out from the crowd of wannabes and imitators inundating the genre. We admit we were worried that Bonobo was going to pull a tech-house on us with this latest release, in light of the growing difficulty to sound original in his scene, but we breathed sighs of relief within the opening bars of Flashlight and say with no small amount of cringe – respect for keeping it deep.
Title track ‘Flashlight’ is one of Bonobo’s most Bonobo tracks yet, recalling ‘Emkay’ in its maddening guitar hook, deep and warm as exotic oceans, which will keep it massive long into summer ’15 and onwards. It’s got something of ‘Kiara’ about it, immediately sweeping, taking in multiple facets of the human experience under its worldy eye. This is Simon Green’s superpower – bringing electricity vividly to life.
Bonobo looks to minimalistic German techno for inspiration in ‘Pelican’ - glassy 5am fodder. A glamorous, slick kick plods away behind Bonobo’s signature ethereal electronica, creating the kind of worried, urban mood heard in industrial, inner-city electronic music.
‘Return to Air’ is a lesson in sprawling atmosphere, mysterious as Bonobo’s earliest work and as textured as his latest. It’s epic and real, by which we don’t mean great and authentic – although it is – we mean majestic and down-to-earth. The antidote to all Jäger -smashing, irritating dance music, this is probably as sober as house can sound, and it’s like being caressed by a tropical breeze.
After the storming success that was The North Borders, the Flashlight EP consolidates Bonobo as one of electronic music’s foremost producers. Its three tracks display a musicianship and artistry unknown by ninety percent of house producers. See Flashlight for instructions on how to do rich electronic music well – with moderation, insight and heart - lots of heart.
