- UK duo Blackhall & Bookless are residents at London's Jaunt party, a club night that books names like Nina Kraviz, Shonky and Steffi. I dare say they're better known as DJs than producers at this point, but that looks set to change with their debut EP on Vitalik. Their sound fits their party: accessible tech house sculpted with one ear to the ground and the other pointed in the direction of stargazing melody. With "ESOJ"'s decorous chords, it's almost no surprise to hear the glistening synth orchestra that emerges halfway through.
The baroque is kept in check by a lazily lapping rhythm, which German duo Hatikvah contort into a jazzy swing, pinning down the track's glacial overtures into filtered waves and dressing the whole thing up with gently tickled ivories. Soulade's remix is decidedly simpler, throwing a hip-hop bump beneath the proceedings (and some rather cliched drum machine sounds) without losing sight of what made it so pretty in the first place. The EP is rounded off with "Touch," which—with its sturdy backbone and synth flourishes—recalls recent UK gloss house underlined with an eerie, almost funereal bassline.
Tracklist 01. Touch
02. Esoj
03. Esoj (Hatikvah Remix)
04. Esoj (Soulade Remix)