austin ato: when love is tender

Since 2017’s ‘Song For Mr Lewis EP’ on Phonica White, Austin Ato has dropped stunningly funky 12”s with ease on many respected house labels including Classic Records and Defected. We were waiting for the right track for his follow-up on Phonica White and when we heard ‘When Love is New’, we knew it was the one - a huge disco house based on an obscure Philadelphia-style jam. It’s the simplicity of the original mix that sets the tone with pumping and driving Disco drums backed to roof raising saxophone licks and soulful vocal snippets, with those all-important deeply moving Philly string samples that are restrained when necessary and released at all the right moments, espe- cially when the drum drops. ‘All Night Long’ highlights Austin Ato’s sample chopping expertise. The drums roll effortlessly through the track as dusty Soul and Disco samples echo and repeat, conjuring sonic memories of Andrés and Pépé Bradock’s best work. ‘When Love Is Tender’ is given the Sweet Mix treatment on the B-side, focusing the drums into a tighter and punchy House groove, bringing the strings to the foreground and underpinning them with a funky and hypnotic Rhodes riff until the catchy sax line is released. And rounding up the release is a dubbed out and stripped back version of the title track, recalling the phasing and flanging drum break extension work of Disco’s pioneering DJs. When the drums are this good, you can dance to just that alone. ‘Sweet, and so good....’