- Since debuting on Whistla's L2S Recordings during the transient days of future garage, Rob Orme has been through many mutations. From bolshy bassline to dreamy Autonomic-style drum & bass, mash-ups have always been his thing. On Tears, his first record for Project: Mooncircle, we were treated to the kind of hip-hop-meets-electronica that would become ever more streamlined in follow-ups for the Berlin label, with last year’s Slow Waves sounding like his most consistent offering to date. As its successor, Stay Home takes a deeper dive into the West Coast via the Japan oasis he's established, with a few embellishments to boot.
There's nothing surprising about opener "Trip" until the warm chimes and R&B-esque vocals tumble into an undulating footwork beat. The effect is far from, say, the skulking sound of Planet Mu's Jlin. This is a much hazier, sun-soaked take on the Chicago sound, closer to something Machinedrum might have made. "Gloom" is another one of these, but more of a twinkly Submerse hybrid, almost lullaby in nature. Closer "Whyarntyou" and bonus track "Team Scare" might be the most interesting cuts, resembling two versions of a broken-hearted footwork ballad that hark back to his dubstep days.
Stay Home is little more than what we've seen before: lush and lovely beats, soothing melodies and chips of Tokyo soundbites, often lashed together with a female vocal. But little quirks keep things interesting, like on "Take It Slow"—two songs in one, bridged by the click of a tape machine button. And it's the tape allusions throughout, a lo-fi crackle and hiss that backdrops the album, that makes it work as a whole. It's the depth of sound that was previously lacking in Orme's shinier dance floor concoctions. It's nice to hear this mixologist procuring a smoother, more mature blend of electronic music.
Lista de sequência de músicas01. Trip
02. Take It Slower
03. Gloom
04. Thinking About You
05. Bokeh
06. Whyarntyou
07. Blueprints
08. Team Scare
09. Lites Out