Pulse Radio review P. Leone EP...

4/5

Spencer Parker’s Work Them Records is mostly synonymous with muscular, concrete-hewn house/techno hybrids that shake the fillings and pump like pistons. But the label is never afraid of confounding its reputations, and its latest from newcomer P. Leone is a case in point: lush, flirtatious techno that is unashamedly melodic and welcoming. If this is the calling card for a new producer’s career then we can only marvel at what is to come.

The opening track ‘Atria’ cascades measuredly into view from restrained, murmuring leads and clicking sonics. With synth lines emerging and coalescing across octaves until they open, bathed in reverb, crashing into the light and lifting a track that harks back to '90s main-room efforts that exalted the dancefloor rather than simply inhabited it. Layers collapse and reform, releasing inertia into the ether in a mesmeric beginning.

‘Sequences Of Attraction’ is a spikier proposition: its metallic, nervous percs housing rumbling subs before the melodies loom into view. Rasping, maximal chords and brash hits wrap up the listener, at once diving into the deep before they re-emerge, replete with slippery rides and reverberating chord patterns in a track that’s throbs with constrained, taut energy, focused on the club.

Closing out a superb and attention-grabbing EP is ‘Miradouro’. A bundle of static and disembodied bleeps at the off, piercing notes ebb and flow, with distorted, blocky hits and scattergun hats in a sleek, effecting cut of modern techno. Just as it appears to resemble an almost tracky, glitchy tool, tumbling bleeps and glowing pads appear, transforming it into a driving groove that permeates up to the end. Stirring and emotive work.