Loraine James continues a prolific year with another head-melting EP, this time enlisting the talents of HTRK's Jonnine, NAAFI-signed producer and vocalist Lila Tirando a Violeta and Iranian rapper Tardast.
London's Loraine James could have sat on her laurels after last year's "For You And I", a timely album of futuristic experimental electronics that had critics frothing at the mouth. But no - on New Year's Day she kicked off the year with a mini-album of collaborations ("New Year's Substitution 2") and since then she's dropped an album of ditched album demos and two more EPs - May's "Bangers and Mash" and July's exceptional "Hmm". Now she's back on Hyperdub with a new EP, and it's completely essential.
Opener 'Nothing' pairs James with Uruguayan producer and vocalist Lila Tirando a Violeta who just dropped the ace "Limerencia" on NAAFI. The duo craft an otherworldly banger together, fusing trance synths with disembodied vocals and the kind of rolling, chest-bursting kick patterns James is beginning to make her signature. 'Marg' finds James offering a spooky overdriven backdrop to Iranian rapper Tardist's ASMR-adjacent Farsi rhymes and playing Autechre at their own game with flashbacks to "EP7".
The pick of the bunch is 'Don't You See It?', a near-ballad that features HTRK's Jonnine Standish on vocals. It's not an obvious matchup but works like a dream, with hazy vocal phrases circling stuttering beats that threaten to push into another universe. There's a fine line to walk when dipping in-and-out of pop and experimental sounds like this and Loraine James puts her contemporaries to shame making it seem completely effortless. So, so good.
| A1 | Nothing |
| A2 | Marg |
| B1 | Don't You See It? |
| B2 | The Starting Point |
