- London trio Sleeper Thief (Miss Jools and Audiofly, aka Anthony Middleton and Luca Saporito) are archetypal minimalists. Their sound is as neat, dry and shaken as a James Bond martini. 'Cenotes is only their third release, but it comes anticipated: earlier hits 'Freefall' (for Sixty Four Records) and 'Full of You' (also for Mobilee) got plenty of turntable time, making appearances on a number of compilations including Tiefschwarz's 'Fabric 29'. Where those tracks proudly swaggered, however, mobilee028 treads rather limply. Both pieces here are sorely in need of Dutch courage.
'Vaja Te Suba Te' rattles away to 16th-note hats and the rhythmic whack-whack of drumsticks while a fishtank gurgles up and down the scale. The halfway mark brings a pretty blip line which lifts the bar slightly, but not sufficiently. The title track is stronger, but it too takes its time. Lonely prog pads in the opening seconds herald portent and dread, but these vanish, replaced by familiar barren tics, a triangle solo and a melody tapped out on plastic bottles. By the eight minute mark these elements have cohered into something swinging, but by then it's all over.
In sets these might work, but these textbook cases are hardly essential.
TracklistA Cenotes
B Vaja Te Suba Te