- Regarded as purveyors of a signature brand of dubstep, 7even have been throwing down a few curve balls of late in the housey tropes of JOAAN's Nocturnality to the drum & bass-led What Do You Want, from Japan's Good Looking stalwart Makoto. Their latest single, Postable, from Russian producer/singer Oceania sees the French label stray further still from its techno-polished sound in favour of witchy, melancholic ballad terrain.
Thom Yorke, James Blake and Jamie XX are distinct influences here and go a fair way to describe Postable's musicality—"You Live In Me" and "Postable," for example, are more haunted pop than anything else, adding a live band feel to 7even's otherwise floor-driven catalogue. Saying that, Postable EP is a dubstep record as much as James Blake's Air & Lack Thereof and The Bells Sketch, but perhaps this is also its fundamental downfall: There is something all-too familiar about Oceania's efforts here. The keys and disembodied wailing that wrap round the otherwise pretty skippy "Stop" are a little too Blake-y, while the moody whispers of "Mantra" and "You Live In Me" strongly evoke the idiosyncrasies of Emika—the latter's pounding mechanical beat in particular calling up the Ninja Tune artist's ode to Berghain, "Cooling Room."
"Forest" is probably the standout in being more ambiguously recognisable than the rest of the EP. There's no obvious mimicry here, more than the revived essence of an all-but-forgotten sound. Deep and languidly dubby jungle concludes Postable, trussed in all those lovely early dubstep idioms—minor chords, horns and plenty of background texture (rain, I think, in this case).
Tracklist A1 Mantra
A2 You Live In Me feat. N.
B1 Postable
B2 Stop feat. N.
B3 Forest