Lost Few – Between The Silence Remixes
(Southern Lights, 2021-04-05)
A coolant jet for the plants in the right hand, then later a fresh beer, the Australian ambient music artist Lost Few seems to have one foot in nature and the other in a local pub. As a result, his music is a mix of forestal and dirty field recordings, drowned into charismatic sub-bass lines, connecting the sonic with the social. It’s palpable, “not like but almost like” Fernow’s project “Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement”, who pushes the concept further with relentless rainstorms and gusts of wind. It’s complex, “not like but almost like” Scorn, who, on his side, takes some malicious delight to hide the exits of his labyrinths. It’s visual, “but not at all like” Brian Eno, who has consciously lost a certain rock attitude in his quiet minimalist drones. It’s Lost Few, tribal, authentic, accessible and at the same time calling up for interesting deep sensations.
In 2019, he released the magnetic LP “Between The Silence” on the promising label Southern Lights, plunging the listeners into a mesmerising journey that leaves no one behind. Unique, surprising, it has been designed to be listened to with close attention. Two years later, talented artists have brilliantly pushed four pieces of the album into the techno zone.
“Between The Silence Remixes” transfigures Lost Few’s tribal reality into darker tenser environments. The drums of the two first tracks hit the ground like chū-daiko beating, reminding Horo’s intense music. Karim Maas, well-known in the DnB scene, and Vohkinne, Atrophic Society‘s label owner, open strong sensory dimensions, warming up the body for the third track.
Years of Denial brings “Expectations Are The Devil” to the dance floor at the peak time. Being admittedly an outsider inside the atmospheric techno EP – almost scandalously – the remix turns out to be pretty refreshing among the dark-wooded tracks. A first listening suggests that the duo, half French, half Czech, is somewhat reminiscent of the French breakbeat scene, owned by producers such as Gesaffelstein, Brodinski, Djedjotronic and Surkin. However, if the fresh vocals instantly recall those from Louisahhh, Years of Denial is in fact more involved in the industrial and post-punk cultures and at least one of its members has been playing around for far more years than the above-mentioned artists.
Set with the mountain pattern, the EP requires a quiet end to release the tension, well thought with Dino Sabatini’s track taking the last slot. Our favourite urban shaman follows the low tempo trend, that he himself initiated during his Prologue years, and delivers another spiritual groove, inviting one more time the listeners to dance around the fire. The maestro is back on Southern Lights after his resounding “Elementi Compatibili EP” on the label; another highly recommended release, produced with his “forever” mate Gianluca Meloni.
WRITING BY: CEDRIC FINKBEINER | 19 APRIL 2021
