Zomby’s greatest asset is his beat craft. Beats that feel like they are collapsing and falling apart and simultaneously driving forward with acute precision. They are coldly mechanical but equally human and organic. If he has a weakness as a producer, it is his impatience. So many of his releases cut off mid flow, almost as if he has got bored half way through. In his fourth album and second full length for 4AD ‘With Love’ this duality is more evident than ever. ‘With Love’ spans two CDs totalling 33 tracks that are on average, no longer that 2-3 minutes each. To begin with, this approach is exciting and entertaining. Scorched amen breaks rub up against brooding trap; garage snaps into house; all painted with the same mournfully bleak palette that his previous album, ‘Dedication’, was forged from.
There are moments that are reminiscent of Autechre’s ‘Amber’ (Vanishment) and Bizzy B old skool style (777) as well as moments that are uniquely Zomby such as ‘If I Will’ with its haunting glockenspiel and disembodied vocal snippets and ‘Rendezvous’ replete with signature rave horns and re-appropriated samples from Brandy’s ‘The Boy is Mine’. Unfortunately the second CD (Volume 2) lacks this mix tape approach. Zomby’s recent penchant for trap wins out and tracks start to sound almost identical. The beat’s are still razor sharp but the journey loses its way. There are moments of excellence on the second volume such as ‘Pyrex Nights’ (featuring Last Japan) with its punishing bass and the more abstract reprise of tracks like ‘Black Rose’ and ‘Reflection in Black Glass’ but the general monotony of the second volume leaves the album as a whole feeling a little drawn out and over worked. It is a very near miss. This could have been an outstanding album, but lacks the variety and playfulness that was in such abundance in ‘Where were you in ’92?’ and so tantalisingly hinted at throughout the first CD. There’s enough material here for one CD’s worth of amazing music but it’s a shame it’s spread out over two.
Contributor: B-Me – get B-Me’s kittencast here
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