- Having released six albums and dozens of 12-inches since 2004, Tom Ellis has approached his favoured heads-down style from just about every angle you could think of. The Freerotation resident hasn't yet run out of ideas, though. Rather than succumbing to the dead hand of formula, the better of his recent tracks remain playful and inquisitive, exploring and inventing within snug aesthetic constraints. Eight such tracks feature on this new double EP for Minibar, which is a decent trip through his latter-day style: deeper-than-deep deep house, variously zonked and jazzy and shaded with live instrumentation.
The Colour Red eases in slowly—why rush when the thing's 55 minutes long? "Divide In Two," a furtive dance of lifelike drumming and tremolo'd keys, twists spryly out of your grasp, while "Virgo" is a straighter house hypnotiser sunk in gooey filtered pads. Both are pleasant but not so memorable. It takes "We All Had Legs," with its louche chords, to really catch the ear. These sorts of chords, deft and live-sounding, crown several of the tracks.
They're wistful on "Won't Be Long," a steamier accumulation of shakers, cymbals and distant birdcall. At the release's tail-end the chords provide a sort of pay-off: first on the sweet "By The Rhythms," where Rhodes-like keys get a whistling accompaniment, and then on the far-out title track, which loses itself in a pleasant modal swirl. In between are some (even) subtler treats. "Not Any More" is a deep house bubble bath, smooth and gurgling and shot through with longing. And the throbbing "Shufflers" places Ellis's percussion front and centre. You might come to these tracks for their delicacy, but you'll stay for their sly groove.
TracklistA1 Divide In Two
A2 Virgo
B1 We All Had Legs
B2 Won't Be Long
C1 Not Any More
C2 Shufflers
D1 By The Rhythms
D2 The Colour Red