Following on from his EP with Josh Humphrey in December, John Tejada reprises his other long-standing partnership, with Takeshi Nishimoto, for their first release since 2010's Solace album. This digital-only EP arrives on Tejada's Palette label, only the second time the duo have appeared away from Berlin's City Centre Offices during their ten-year run.
Holding pattern to their five albums to date, the emphasis is on Nishimoto's string orchestration merging with Tejada's percussive dexterity. The title track has understated shuffle, with layers of strings and soft tones combining to pleasant, yet ultimately forgettable, effect. Placed over a grid of climatic snare rolls and abstract keys, "The Color of Happiness" is reminiscent of the leftfield hard-bop of Norwegian outfit Xploding Plastix. "Slide" completes the package in a nostalgic wash of what's essentially instrumental soft rock. Much like the majority of the pair's output, this three-tracker is clearly the work of two musicians whose technical expertise stretch far beyond many of their peers, but it lacks the unquantifiable currency of charm.
Buy I'm Not A Gun - Sub-tones at
Tracklist: I'm Not A Gun - Sub-tones
01. Sub-tones
02. The Color of Happiness
03. Slider
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