- There's a straightforward elegance to the second part of Marco Passarani's space odyssey on Running Back. If the first instalment was more outgoing melodically and stylistically, this 12-inch dispenses with some of the edge to float in a place that suggests the titles have not been arbitrarily chosen. This could also be interpreted from the order in which these tracks have been assembled: we began with colliding stars and we end with colliding stars, with the split into white and black dwarfs mapping this universe's cyclical existence with a compass. Not just a quaint anecdote, Passarni's music is emblematic of such a vision.
After the bustle of interstellar activity as heard in last year's acidy, bass-heavy effort, comes the sparkle of an engendered "White Dwarf." The low-ends are more melody lines than bass and they nestle under choral pads and light chords in an exemplar of house music that works just as well lying down with eyes closed, as it would establishing dance floor communion. (Its sound aesthetic might well reflect the visual spectacle you might imagine from one of these.) On the other hand, to find out what a Black Dwarf entails is to understand why its namesake here is so barren. One suspects this has more to do with Passarani's overarching plan for musical allegory than appealing to listeners. (That, or it could just be a handy DJ tool.)
The cycle completes itself with "Colliding Stars Part 2," which expectedly marks a return to a tuneful hoopla. Two distinct basslines, chords moving from staccato to shiny and several interweaving arpeggios collide against one another as promised to close the odyssey with a supernova exploding at 120 BPM.
Tracklist A White Dwarf
B1 Black Dwarf
B2 Colliding Stars Pt. 2
