On the evidence of his latest plate for Paul Rose’s Hotflush imprint, and recent collaborative effort with Spherix, Sigha is fast becoming London’s answer to dub-techno pioneers Basic Channel. Like Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus, he seems to revel in creating wide-open spaces within his tracks that allow each individual element to breathe independently of the whole. The result is to draw emphasis to every minute change in rhythm or melody, creating a sense of hypnotic ease that ensures each track feels far longer than its actual runtime, yet never overstays its welcome.
The title track of his ‘Rawww EP’ is a case in point: with its graceful pivots and static-drenched motion, it could have been a component of Maurizio’s M-Series, a single monochrome melody line remaining constant as the rest of the track disassembles and recreates itself over ten long minutes. It couldn’t be more ‘Berlin’ if it tried – but that fact has no bearing whatsoever on its ethereal beauty, capturing in its all-encompassing synth wash and metronomic pulse a slow and considered journey down the autobahn.
On the flipside, ‘Hold Your Heart Up To The Light’ betrays Sigha’s London roots more explicitly, driven by the slightest memory of a garage beat and echoes of syncopation buried deep in the mix. It’s essentially a mood piece – something he does well; none of the tracks on ‘Rawww’ are overtly aimed for the dancefloor, instead choosing to stand alone as microcosms of London bass music’s potential for unlocking odd feelings of nostalgia and melancholy. ‘Untitled 2’ moves further back towards techno territory, awash in delay and coated in a fine film of vinyl crackle that clings whispily to the beat before being swept away in sudden gale force currents.
Sigha’s work on ‘Rawww’ is certainly not the sort of material aimed squarely at bass connoisseurs – in fact, there is nary a rumble of percussive sub-bass throughout. Instead, its presence is used to mark out a region for the track to operate within. The results, whilst minimal and firmly head-oriented, are well worthy of investigation and careful absorption.
Words: Rory Gibb
Out: Now
Link:
www.myspace.com/sigha
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