Uitgebracht
November 2015
- Over the past 11 years, Leif Knowles has produced 25 EPs and two full-lengths, most of which are excellent, and yet he's far from well-known. A product of the Welsh scene that peaks each year with the Freerotation festival, Knowles and his peers are low-key personalities who emphasize craft, eschewing trends in favor of classic, if opaque, house music principles like "deepness." Taraxacum is the culmination of years of work rather than a breakthrough moment.
Only Taraxacum's opening title track uses a typical 4/4 drum pattern. It's the sound of Knowles dropping breadcrumbs, leading us into a forest of more novel patterns after setting a dubby tone. "Painted Cakes Do Not Satisfy Hunger" follows with a beautiful, polyrhythmic mess of shaker, flute, hand drums and stuttering kicks, which snaps into focus around a deft bass guitar performance. "Untitled" does away with all but a hint of percussion, and yet it's utterly rhythmic. It's the clearest example of the casual streak that runs through Taraxacum, many of whose tracks unfold, pull you in and then end abruptly, like a friend who never overstays their welcome.
Even if he's not one for dramatic statements, Knowles creates complex worlds here. Take "Air, Light, Time, Space"—its rhythmic constants are a two-note piano line and a choppy two-step kick, with a dizzying array of wheezing, plucked chords springing up around those simple elements. "An Elephant Madness" is even more impressive: Morr Music-style melodic optimism mixes with bin-rattling low-end, before the mix is overwhelmed with an unsettling percussive chord that evokes Steve Reich's phased repetition.
Leif is a rare triple-threat, adept with hopeful melody, dub atmosphere and twitchy UK rhythms. His approach so clearly lets the music shine that it's tough to find a critical angle. This gimmick-free production style is refreshing, and has given us enduring cuts like 2013's "Circumstance 4" and 2015's "Life Through Analogies." And now there's Taraxacum, a record that subtly pushes the boundaries of atmospheric house while clinging to the genre's essential mood. You'd be hard pressed to find a deep house record much like it.
TracklistA1 Taraxacum
A2 Painted Cakes Do Not Satisfy Hunger
A3 Untitled
B1 Tuesday Nothing
B2 Air, Light, Time, Space
C1 An Elephant Madness
C2 October Light
D1 Decision, Assumption
D2 Anachronistic feat. Duckett