Girl Unit – Wut review

It’s been rinsed on, erm, Rinse, talked about vociferously across the forums, hailed as one of the singles of the year and now it’s finally arrived in the shops. It is of course, Girl Unit’s “Wut” – the long-awaited follow up to the London based producer’s “IRL” 12”, which dropped on L Vis 1990 and Bok Bok’s Night Slugs imprint back in April.

So what of it? The title track brings uplifting trance-like synths together with swathes of hazy atmospherics and shimmering, shrieking vocals calling out the hypnotic riff. It’s reminiscent of those scenes in Human Traffic where they trip out after getting back from the club; all post-euphoria glow, hands-in-the-air bliss and warm, ecstasy induced fuzziness encapsulated into sonic form. Tipping the balance at seven minutes long, the heavy bass booms ground it in reality and jungle horns delicately placed towards the end herald the grand finale, before we move fluidly into the next track. “Every Time” is all whinnying vocals, a more recognisably dubstep rooted swinging beat and jarring stabs. The track swiftly moves from its schmoozy, reverberating intro into a more detached, explorative synth-led section, with whirring strings in full flow in the background, in manner of Rustie or Hud Mo, before ending with a chiming shimmy of xylophone sounds, lilting synthetic keys and squeaky SFX.

Finishing with the aptly named swooning “Showstoppa”, Girl Unit pulls out all the stops as we near the end of the 12”. Slushy instrumentals wade across a luscious soundscape with crushing percussion and a sinuous bassline, punctuated by urbane lyrics calling “hey!” and the blowing of a shrill whistle. The swirling pools of synths are hypnotic and drag the listener along with Rustie style digital sounds and a touch of Ikonika right to the very end. Outstanding.

Belinda Rowse