- Craig Smith's 20-odd years in dance music have given him an unerring ear for a rhythm. Whether solo or collaborating with The Revenge as 6th Borough Project, he imbues even his thickest house cuts with percussive flourishes that make them more than straightforward stompers. Both originals here are littered with the kind of drum breaks Guillaume Coutu Dumont deploys so sublimely. On the title track they clatter around a strutting house beat and all manner of keyboard and organ licks. And as with GDC, in the second half all the elements coalesce into something frantic but groovy.
The remixes take a tougher tack. Phil Asher (as Phlash) goes big on the spoken word vocal—a passage from Marianne Williamson's A Return To Love that's often misattributed to Nelson Mandela—but what could sound cloying works when stitched to something so pumping. Fabio Della Torre's remix feels more like a watered-down version of the original, but fans of North Lake's dreamy synth workouts should find something to enjoy. The high point, though, is the blissed-out closer, "Matter Don't Matter," a slice of sun-drenched slow-mo house that evokes cocktails on an Adriatic beach. When the rhythm switches in the final third it's like bottled summer.
TracklistA1 Only When It Is Darkest (Original Mix)
A2 Only When It Is Darkest (Fabio Della Torre Pleasure Mix)
A3 Only When It Is Darkest (Phlash Remix)