The cooing touch of sensuous allure and air of mystery; coupled with a travelling schedule more suited for a cold war secret agent: Emika solders together an intrestingly sophisticated soundboard of glitchy, enigmatic, creeping pop.
With ancestral links to Czechoslavakia, and soujourns in both Bristol and Berlin (her current base of operations), the electronic-coalesce, sultriness, producer/songwriter, woo’s and faints directed resigination on her third single, ‘Pretend/ Professional Loving’.
Taking cleverly extruded elements of dubstep, minimal house and trip-hop, Emika floats through a Berlin minefield of sporadic static fusion, and haunting tremors; all drifting together like a creaking mothership over a pulsating bass. The empirical, rebarbative theme of ‘Pretend’ unfolds ominously: Emika echoing the repeated refrain, “Just for tonight/ we can pretend/ that we’re friends”; shifting from a state of stoic bitterness to effected querulous vunerability by the end fade of the track. ‘Professional Loving’ warbles and seductivily probes at the heavier stumbling beats. Gut-wrenching depth-charge bass bursts cause sonorous ripples through the creeping electro vibe, whilst a meandering piano section suddenly appears from the ether: all adding an evocative dreamlike quality to the plaint dig at the music industries fickleness.
An offering of remixes, or “reworks”, build on the oiginals starkness, rather then blow it apart. BBF takes ‘Pretend’ on a 8-minute plus odyssey, from early 90s minimalist techno to classicist, piano-led, Italo house; whereas Kyle Hill’s treatment is a metallic ping-pong throwback to the mid-80s. Chicago Juke exponent, DJ Rashed, and his sparring partner, DJ BMT, launch a grating rat-a-tat attack on ‘Profesional Loving’; demoting the main vocals to background ghostly swoons.
Both artfully creeping and nuanced, Emika’s sounds are like a shock of neon blue in the bleakness of downcast, dramatic electonic music.
Due: Out Now
[Rating:3.5]
