- Since debuting on Whistla's L2S Recordings during the transient days of future garage, Rob Orme has been through many mutations. From bolshy bassline to dreamy Autonomic-style drum & bass, mash-ups have always been his thing. On Tears, his first record for Project: Mooncircle, we were treated to the kind of hip-hop-meets-electronica that would become ever more streamlined in follow-ups for the Berlin label, with last year’s Slow Waves sounding like his most consistent offering to date. As its successor, Stay Home takes a deeper dive into the West Coast via the Japan oasis he's established, with a few embellishments to boot.
There's nothing surprising about opener "Trip" until the warm chimes and R&B-esque vocals tumble into an undulating footwork beat. The effect is far from, say, the skulking sound of Planet Mu's Jlin. This is a much hazier, sun-soaked take on the Chicago sound, closer to something Machinedrum might have made. "Gloom" is another one of these, but more of a twinkly Submerse hybrid, almost lullaby in nature. Closer "Whyarntyou" and bonus track "Team Scare" might be the most interesting cuts, resembling two versions of a broken-hearted footwork ballad that hark back to his dubstep days.
Stay Home is little more than what we've seen before: lush and lovely beats, soothing melodies and chips of Tokyo soundbites, often lashed together with a female vocal. But little quirks keep things interesting, like on "Take It Slow"—two songs in one, bridged by the click of a tape machine button. And it's the tape allusions throughout, a lo-fi crackle and hiss that backdrops the album, that makes it work as a whole. It's the depth of sound that was previously lacking in Orme's shinier dance floor concoctions. It's nice to hear this mixologist procuring a smoother, more mature blend of electronic music.
Tracklist01. Trip
02. Take It Slower
03. Gloom
04. Thinking About You
05. Bokeh
06. Whyarntyou
07. Blueprints
08. Team Scare
09. Lites Out