- Hi & Saberhägen have pulled off a neat sleight of hand on releases for Huntleys & Palmers and Proibito, concealing the weirdness of their house music beneath a fuzzy melodic exterior. The Edinburgh duo's debut for Yumé is less crafty: its sweet chords and melodies are the main attraction rather than the sugar on something weirder. That's OK though—it turns out that the duo are skilled makers of deep house confections, only occasionally giving in to sentimentality.
The Kel EP is rich with tape hiss and multi-tracked guitar, in places resembling a whimsical bedroom tinkerer like Bibio. On "Don't Do It," careworn strumming is layered over a bouncy triplet beat. The duo withhold the fulsome bassline for almost three minutes, maximising the cuddly euphoria when it hits. "Everything Is Good" couples a similar bassline and melody with Rhodes chords and a straighter groove, decorated with cute percussive touches. "Saint Bardot" goes too far—the sampled voice, an old-timey coo sped up so that it flutters like birdsong, is a bit twee. But on "WC122," a similar vocal spot works wonderfully. The track's sampled chords and crackly drums suggest a poppier Jan Jelinek. In the second half, those drums cede the stage to a blues singer, for the EP's most blissful moment.
TracklistA1 Saint Bardot
A2 Don't Do It
B1 Everything Is Good
B2 WC122