- Mobilée’s releases have more subtlety than a lot of the newer German labels that have sprung up around the recent minimal scene, and this latest release is no exception. Marco Resmann has already released under the names Phage and Luna City Express (the latter with Norman Webber), but this is his first release under his own name, and it shows a suitably painterly, impressionistic approach to production.
‘Gouache’ opens with a background wash of tiny sounds melded into a single sad, evocative timbre that hangs in the air while a strong but delicate beat builds in the foreground – soon fortified by an insistent synth motif. The track never really peaks, instead carving a delicate, gradual arc from build-up to gentle resolution, as the beat toughens with twinkling notes wafting in the background, before fragments of organic percussion take over and the track gently settles with what sounds like an oar slapping against the side of a boat.
B-side ‘Tempera’ also opens with a background wash of sound, but this one is more constant and settled than the hybrid of noises present on ‘Gouache’. The beats, by contrast, are jumpy and there’s an insistent one-note synth riff that builds gradually as the track reveals itself to be one of those long, slow-burning chuggers perfect for recharging a dancefloor’s resources between bursts of harder stuff.
The tracks on ‘Watercolour’ are too subtle to stay with you for long, but on the level of texture and sound design, these are exquisitely produced gems.
TracklistA Gouache
B Tempera