less-o: shenanigans

Straight out blood relative business, TEMET’s anticipated fourth iteration comes courtesy of up-and-coming French producer Less-O - a relatively new name to the scene but whose musical lineage and shared DNA with Simo shall sound no stranger to our listeners’ ears. Raised in a family of music lovers and classical guitar players, Less-O first dabbled in music through the prism of drums, mostly jazz, which have played a big part in the development of his approach towards electronic production (he only picked up a couple of years ago), and obviously runs the length of his debut solo EP, “Shenanigans”, due out 9 November on TEMƎT. Recorded during the recent lockdown that pushed him to explore further ahead his then- dormant potential within the electronic sphere, writing most of the tracks over lengthy night watch shifts, “Shenanigans” champions a sound both dark and subtly elating. The EP fuses an immersive and brooding neo-noir ambience with Jon Hassell-ian brass a la Blues Nile and flooded machinery on ”Bumblebee”, whilst “Clan D” peeps at slowed-and-throwed trap motifs with muted savagery. A shadowy hood joint primed for slo-cruising around the blocks. Contemporary trip-hop number is on the menu with “Meditative Walk”, laying macroscopic emphasis on faux-organic envelopes and insectoid sounds as ominous riffs and brittle chimes scud across. Tapping in cross-knit seams of hard-edged bass and future dancehall, “Behind Closed Doors” reels out as a fractured kaleidoscope flush with hypermodern rhythmic shards, cascading bleeps and knee-buckling breaks. The mystique-imbued polyrhythmia of “A Third” rounds off the package with incendiary percussive flair, unleashing a hypnotic symphony of skilfully ordinated dissonance and rattling riptide froth. Keep your eyes peeled, the Less-O adventure is just getting started.