- In a blind test, a casual listener would be forgiven for mistaking Margaret Dygas's latest Perlon 12-inch for a Skull Disco classic weighed down by one too many spliffs. There's enough sub pressure and open space here to win a sound clash, but there's also a schizophrenic collage of soul samples, acoustic material and martial drum programming that makes Even 11 something else altogether. Dygas's productions have always felt daring and strange in isolation, marked by peculiar atmospheres and structures that seem too weird to work until you hear them beautifully disorientate a dance floor. But Even 11 feels like something remarkable for Dygas and even Perlon itself, which isn't to be said lightly of one of dance music's strongest labels.
The B-side barely pulls itself up off the floor, dragged down by the weight of its own furtive atmosphere. Careful interplay between expertly sequenced live drums and sleepy sub pulses dances atop a background of half-heard sounds for a luxurious 11 minutes that recall the Moritz Von Oswald Trio's finest moments. Indeed, the sense of a performance by a band responding to each other's gestures is notably vivid for a work produced by an individual.
The same is true of the title track. "Even 11" is far more fleet-footed, despite having only a blunted sub with a soft attack in place of a punchy kick drum. But this is part of the reason why there's so much space to play with—a throb rather than a smack gives the percussion more relative impact and the vocal samples more presence. The groove feels far more liquid as a result, and Dygas teases out the tension for an impossibly long period, touching on electro, breakbeat and minimal flavours along the way. There's no single moment of release (though the 808 hi-hats dropping around the five-minute mark come close), but the journey is a rare pleasure.
TracklistA1 Even 11
A2 Loop 1
B1 Wishing Well
B2 Loop 2