Kyle Hall - Girl U So Strong

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  • There's something distinctly alien about Kyle Hall's second 12-inch for Hyperdub, released to coincide with the label's ten-year anniversary but in fact produced four years ago. Given the limited shelf life of most dance music, it's to Hall's credit that Girl U So Strong sounds brand new. On the title track, a pounding bassline and abstracted vocal trace circles around one another before they're reined in by a shuffling drum pattern. As the dynamics rise, rhythms are thickly layered and chords loll sluggishly. The track avoids propulsion in favour of off-kilter atmospherics and free-spirited exhilaration. "Take Me Away" is sparer, with a faint rustle and a few bleeps initially the only accompaniments to the 8-bit bassline. It builds patiently but again seems to unfold outwards rather than forwards, with Hall adding new elements—syncopated drum hits, a wash of synth pad, and vocal accents—at every pass. As it intensifies and subsides, the effect is like techno with its spine removed. Although it doesn't bang particularly hard, "Take Me Away" has a subtle and exotic power that's all its own.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Girl U So Strong B1 Take Me Away
RA