Dark Sky – Frames EP review

A cool, calm and deeply contemplative release from the London based production trio, Dark Sky. Following on from their previous release, Something To Lose, the EP marks another notable landmark on the constantly morphing and elusive post-dubstep landscape.

Music made to the move the mind, body and soul, “Drowned City” opens with warm, future garage-esque synths and instrumental sounds, eventually falling into a deftly placed beat, with lashings of James Blake (circa his remix of Mount Kimbie’s “Maybes” minus the vocal) in there. The track moves along like a gently wafting breeze, never too troubled, or hindered in its path. “Fly”, up next, continues in a similar vein with soft breathy vocals, rather like a D Bridge & Instra:mental track, minimal, deep and deadly effective, the soundscape a mixture of punctures, bleeps, stabs and twitches, led by the female vocal sample, twisting and changing course, perhaps even a little Scuba-esqe at times. Moving forwards with “Night Light”, its gentle glimmering atmospherics for the first forty seconds lead into a surprisingly heavy, tumultuous drop, with booming subs and a jingling, bell-shaking riff adding to the upbeat, energetic lilting rhythm. Concluding with “Reflex”, Dark Sky take it back down to earth, with an intro dominated by scraping comb-like sounds and a menacing metallic thump, rather like June Miller’s “Brussel North”, in fact.

Murging sounds, rhythms, tempos and textures from across the sonic spectrum, this is an interesting and enticing EP from the tripartite collective. How it will fair against the likes of Mount Kimbie, James Blake, George Fitzgerald et al, remains to be seen. Our advice? Watch this space.

Review: Belinda Rowse