Voiski - IAI Movement

Label: L.I.E.S

With the rate that L.I.E.S releases music, it’s a given that no one is going to like each one, and I have to admit that by the summer I was beginning to lose faith in Brooklyn’s taste-making imprint. Yet this Autumn the label has been proving itself in a big way, with a great recent release by Legowelt  and an intriguing new offering courtesy of KWC 92. To complete its autumnal hat-trick there’s this, a chimeric techno EP from young gun Voiski, comprised of three tracks which evolve dramatically over their runtimes, resulting in an uncommonly compelling exercise in propulsion. A-side From White to Red is a blissful trip, kicking off as an abstract slice of house composed of undulating chants and a persistent kick. It’s well produced but little more than mesmeric - until the track takes off around the 3-minute mark to become something else entirely. Suddenly broad synth strokes carry the track forward with fresh momentum, resulting in a thundering, uplifting conclusion sure to leave keen listeners stunned.

From White to Red

As the EP’s metamorphic track titles suggest, these transitional song structures continue, and the quality doesn’t let up. From Wood to Stone follows, a hypnotic arrangement of bright synths galvanised by a cast-iron kick, the percussion solidifying until it is joyously reunited with the melody for the track’s closing moments. Finally From Sea to Sea starts off with a colder pulse, serrated synths accruing a whirl of vivid melody in a slow, organic build of tension. The latter tracks never quite reach the ebullience of the opener but IAI Movement remains an unquestionably strong work, showing a producer with a keen melodic sensibility whose music evokes a rare joy in momentum.

7.5/10