April 15, 2022 - Faux Poly
Cool Time Dance Friends aka Kassian are back with a new project and a new imprint. The duo, consisting of Warren Cummings and Joe Danvers, have been putting in work at their personal production studio in Hackney Wick, London. Chance Is Our Greatest Ally marks their next steps into the music biz as they shape their own outlet for themselves and other artists.
Curtains open on a soft digital sunrise. Warm light creeps its way along the hardwood flooring. A rolling bassline sprouts up from the seams of the floorboards and immediately takes over the scene. I am struck with a profound sense of déjà vu and nostalgia, the repetitive bassline harkening back to a song from my past that to this moment remains on the tip of my brain (TBH I spent over 4 hours combing through music trying to find the culprit track in vain). But ‘San Junipero’ exists and has a name and is not a mystery. As a fellow speculative fiction enthusiast, I get the reference. Warbled melodies cut through the wall of bass as a glitchy percussion loop loops over light field-recorded ambiance, a balancing act between reality and simulation that might or might not be a nod to the track’s fictional town namesake.
This ambiance persists through to the next track, ‘Akkala Falls.’ As a fellow Hyrule enthusiast, I get the reference. Shimmery synths play tug-of-war with a mirrored, lower-octave version of themselves, creating a tide that rises and falls throughout the piece. A distorted vocal weaves its way through the production, providing a moody undertone that compliments the sharp, glitched-out percussion.
The faded ambient speaking voices carry through to the last track on the project, ‘Metropolis.’ As a fellow expressionist sci-fi drama enthusiast, I get the reference. The common elements that have been present throughout the EP reach their zenith on ‘Metropolis.’ Energetic synth stabs echo out amongst the stars surrounded by over-caffeinated percussion. Towards the end of the track the melodic elements are subdued to make way for the field-recorded ambiance, like a conductor quieting down the brass section before a dramatic turn in the composition. The tension is never released, however, as the end of the piece and project comes seemingly too early. It is then that I realize the track has been playing for nearly nine minutes.
This is an exciting time for Kassian as they branch upwards. I look forward to their imprint and what fruit it will bear in the future. 🍍