Gerry Read – We Are review

Moving on to the second part in his trilogy of releases for Fourth Wave, Gerry Read lets us peek at a little more of his unravelling precociousness. It may be early days for the youthful producer, but already his bizarre tendencies are standing him aside from the rest of the sizable pack, and it’s serving him very well indeed.

“We Are” stays relatively simple for some eight bars as a few choice grainy samples form a steady house template, and from there Read lets further textures filter into the mix. There’s a pleasing amount of tension leading up to a crafty drop-out, which then switches the tune into something of a melodic jam, albeit using melodies splattered with muck. The troubled piano hook is twisted just enough to make it unique, without losing the inherent warmth of the sound. By the time the more jacking elements of the intro are re-introduced, the course is set for oddball dancefloor fodder of the bravest kind.

Much like its counterpart, “Narry” kicks off on a steady groove that lets the cymbals ring out over a woody kick while the vocal hum nags away incessantly. The progression is much smoother here, as the melodic elements ease into the melée, but still a switch up (albeit of a less dramatic nature than on “We Are”) is on the cards as the main hook gets triggered. Said hook is a bluesy vocal going ten rounds with the filter, which would seemingly locate the peak of the tune.

However the dynamics in Read’s tracks don’t adhere to the rules of the dance, as ably demonstrated by the afterthought manner in which the chunky claps fall in. Just when you think you’re in the groove, the groove shapeshifts just enough to make you raise an eyebrow. Pleasingly though, Read never goes too far out as to lose you along the way. Quite how many DJs will pack the cojones to spin these jams out remains to be seen, but with the right room of freaks in front of them there’s no reason why these can’t be party rockers.

Oli Warwick