- Delicate but expansive takes on drum & bass and garage from a Sydney up-and-comer.
- At least from an outside perspective, it seems like you can't shake a stick in any of Australia's major cities without hitting an exciting new dance music producer. The latest is Angus Mills, who debuts on eclectic Sydney label Moonshoe with a collection of intricate, outer space rhythmic excursions that reference drum & bass, garage and electro. These are standard sounds for the Australian scene across Melbourne and Sydney, sure, but what makes Mills's music special is its especially light touch.
Alva is a 12-inch structured more like an album, with a wonderfully floaty opener that introduces the key notes of the rest of the EP: namely, lush pads and shiny baubles of synth that shimmer and gleam as they pass by. "Herbert St" adds a drum & bass flavour, but the stuttering drums are sculpted and smooth, more of a pitter-patter than a thud, and the impact is softened even more by Mills' painterly pads. On "Micro Q" and "West," the soundscape opens wider, with the percussion standing out like stars against a clear sky. "Wet," with its windswept synths, makes for an especially impressive vista.
The song structures mirror the EP's sequencing, with each track developing gracefully over four or five minutes instead of just looping. Take "Yelp"—which reminds me of some of Facta's recent work—and how it starts off sparse before growing into a twitchy, cascading UK-style techno jam with phased, stuttering vocals. It's almost swampy, but never heavy. Like the rest of the tracks on Alva, it feels like listening to the whirr and buzz of some alien technology, full of odd but intriguing sounds that beckon you to come closer.
Tracklist01. Alva
02. Herbert St
03. Micro Q
04. Yelp
05. Wet
06. Paradis