- Dauwd Al Hilali has a knack for streamlining all kinds of ideas and influences into effortlessly smooth and airy house music. You could compare his glossy textures to the likes of Dusky or Bwana, but his music is more subtle. Theory Of Colours, his first album, is a case in point. This is easily his quietest record, but what it lacks in oomph it makes up for in the details. You can hear careful refinement in its tranquil disposition and gorgeous sound design. Theory Of Colours is a house record that feels unhurried, unbothered and all the better for it.
On "Leitmotiv," a synth lead shoots above pitter-patter drums and leads the track into a slightly more urgent gallop. In the hands of a more predictable producer, this might've been a hands-in-the-air moment, but the drop instils a sense of calm instead. In passages like these, Al Hilali isn't making tracks for the dance floor so much as turning techno and house into a meditative form.
Theory Of Colours has other moments of quiet brilliance. On "Murmure," the rhythm is implied—everything is hushed and soft-focus, a form with which Al Hilali works especially well. Standout track "Glass Jelly" deploys a break that feels so light as to be made out of plastic. Add in the jazzy keyboard strokes, and it becomes a house track whose poise and nonchalance make it that much more potent.
Al Hilali's style of dance music underlines the power of restraint. The way he exercises control calls back to krautrock groups like Cluster, whose music had a similar lightness and grace. Al Hilali has hinted at krautrock influences in the past—the thick, musical synth work of "Lydia," for example—and here they surface as analogue textures and ultra-precise arrangements. Theory Of Colours works equally well as a collection of chill-out jams or club tracks for DJs. It's a dance floor album that isn't all that concerned with the dance floor, which makes it a pleasure to listen to from front to back.
Tracklist01. Macadam Therapy
02. Leitmotiv
03. Murmure
04. Glass Jelly
05. Analogische Memories
06. Unconscious
07. Theory Of Colours