- Detroit's Kevin Reynolds has had a hand in plenty of the city's output over the past decade—engineering for Transmat, tour managing Derrick May's Hi-Tek Soul project, performing at DEMF/Movement festivals in 2001, 2004 and 2009—but he hasn't released much of his own music; according to Discogs, this is only the third release on his own Todhchai Records, after a 2005 CDR and a 12-inch the following year.
Apparently, "Favis," the main cut here, originally appeared on that six-year-old CD, which might not be too surprising; with pinging keys faintly reminiscent of the Detroit Escalator Company and shuffly congas and shakers recalling Ican's Latin-tinged Detroit house, it's a timeless type of cut, archetypal and yet also almost self-effacing. You might not notice it on first or third listen, but those chiming chords have a way of sinking beneath your skin. Speaking of Ican, Santiago Salazar himself turns up on the remix, spinning the chords of the original into a tense, coiled, uptempo jam driven by hissing hi-hats and plangent synths; you have to turn it up to fully appreciate the glissando whistling in the background.
Reynolds' other two original tracks, "Herobeat (Lil' G's Beat)" and "You Search for a Means," feel more like sketches, but they're both worthwhile. The first takes thrumming, Carl Craig-style chords and pairs them with a neatly collapsing, martial drum break; "You Search for a Means" is deeper and richer, with parallel synth lines rubbing sensually against conga-driven disco breaks. The latter, at just 3:33 long, is the shortest thing on a record whose tracks never break the six-minute mark, but it accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do, mapping the precise dimensions of a tentative mood and a more determined groove. Let's hope we don't have to wait another five years for the follow-up.
Tracklist A1 Favis
A2 Herobeat (Lil G's Beat)
B1 Favis (Santiago Salazar's Southwest Detroit Remix)
B2 You Search For A Means