- After dropping his debut record in April for sister label Losing Suki, Last Magpie returns with (Who Knows) Where The Love Goes, on Hypercolour. This time, there's a bit more of a house bent—rather than garage—but the Leeds-based producer's cheeky attitude to sampling remains the same. The title track "just works," declares the press material, which is pretty hard to argue with. Sweet as honey, the girlish lead vocals are delivered/sampled with a well-measured cadence, the backing vocals ("in-sane, in-sane") are almost a percussive element in themselves, and the track's big, synthy piano hits are smartly coordinated to punctuate the end of each loop. It seems an obvious choice for DJs to wind down sets. "Pilau Rice" is even more invested in vocals, rallying itself around evangelistic cries of "O Lord have mercy!" and the like. Here, it seems as if the intention is to batter listeners with the sample, eliciting emotion with sheer force. For the most part, this approach works, but inevitably, the track's computer game-styled chiming can get lost in the delay-heavy peaks.
The remaining two tracks take a more melodic approach. "Club Whore" puts a lot of effort into its percussion, plasticky claps and spritzing hi-hats tumbling over one another in irregular patterns and bolstering the track's simple melodies. "Don't Know Why" once again places great emphasis on sampling—incredibly audacious sampling, considering the probable weight of the band-in-question's lawyers. Worth the risk? Sure, though the sample isn't quite as well integrated as those in the title track, something losing a syllable may have helped with. But the music itself does feel a bit stronger, the track's first half recalling the smoothest of Smallville-style house, with the latter breaking seamlessly into a joyous "Good Life" tribute.
Tracklist 01. (Who Knows) Where Loves Goes
02. Pilau Rice
03. Don't Know Why
04. Club Whore