Ciara once sang: “when it comes to love I’m like a surgeon,” which seemed like a pretty bizarre statement on the surface. Surgeons may be bound by the directive to do no harm, but operating tables are not usually thought of as romantic places. However, something about that phrase sticks in my mind when listening to Discreet Desires from Helena Hauff, a surgeon in her own right. Spending time with the Hamburg based selector’s debut album gives one the feeling that you are being precisely manipulated throughout – your nerves tweaked, your serotonin levels flushed with a tactful incision to the gastrointestinal tract.
Blasting out of nowhere with a devastatingly self-assured debut single, Moiré is a hitherto unknown quantity in the electronic music world, but that fits in just fine with the wayward nature of Actress’ Werkdiscs stable. There have been plenty of sizable splashes made by previous Werkdiscs releases such as Lone, Lukid or Zomby, but really the label exists in a murky underworld created by its own curatorial aesthetic, which of course is a strengthening point when it would be so easy to make safer moves from Actress’ vaunted position in these times.
Werkdiscs have just revealed a video accompaniment for a track on the label’s forthcoming EP from Actress.