Andy Mac - Regular & Irregular

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  • Falling Up crew members Andy Mac and Jay L have been responsible for some of the most overlooked house singles to come out of Bristol in recent years. Jay L had his moment in the sun with a 12-inch on BRSTL last year, the gorgeous Looking Up Pt. 1 / Try Slung, and Mac debuted the year before with Everytime. Both explored summery, dusty grooves more indebted to Detroit house than many of their Bristol peers, although Mac's productions, in particular, sported weighty basslines befitting of their Punch Drunk home. This double 12-inch package from Andy Mac is the first we've heard from either producer since. And with the exception, perhaps, of Detroit-ish house number "The Rude Sea" (a collaboration with fellow Falling Up founder Typesun), there are few audible ties with the his past work. Instead, Regular & Irregular's five tracks are patient and sparsely arranged compositions that explore a variety of styles but revel in their own simplicity. Generally this approach works nicely. The sun-drenched "Cities & Desire" wavers in intensity, as if seen through a heat haze; at the other end of the thermometer, "Lit"'s sparse chords peer out from a bleak landscape of halftime percussion and ponderous sub-bass. In nonchalant electro number "Nowhere"—on which both Jay L and Typesun lend a hand—the payoff comes several minutes in with gorgeous, twinkly synth chords. Only the techno-leaning "Hearts & Lungs" drags, a fact not helped by its abrasive flanged hi-hats, which quickly tire the ears. These tracks could, arguably, be more succinct, but their simple, almost live jam-style construction is part of their charm.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Cities & Desires A2 Heart & Lungs B Nowhere! C Lit D The Rude Sea
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