- Tomorrow Now is Dominic Petrie's first EP for Ingredients, a strong drum & bass label that usually falls under the shadow of its larger peers. But snapping up Petrie for this lengthy seven-track EP could be a coup. Tender but tough, Petrie worships at the altar of Calibre without resorting to idolatry.
Petrie's palette could almost be considered stuffy, a rainy-day wash of piano, clear-cut drums and velvety chords. But the magic lies in the sophisticated arrangements—just listen to "Riverside Blues," which is one of the EP's more forthright tracks. The drums are smartly kept in check behind the dubbed-out chords and massaging bassline. It's a delicacy we don't see very much in drum & bass, even in its softest moments. "Beyond The Wall Of The Sleep" is more delicate, with just a hint of strings peeking in to give it some colour, while glints of watery guitar sneak through the measures on "Empire."
Petrie is not a pioneer by any means—the half-stepper "Ephemerol Test" and the more evocative "Soho" both borrow from the dBridge playbook of cinematic melodies and coiled-up drums, while "TMA1" could be a track on Samurai Red Seal, all echo-drenched chords. It's only on "Exponent Of Escape" that he breaks free of his influences, with kick drums that sound like they're coming from another room contributing to some truly cavernous atmospherics. Though Petrie still has some work to do, Tomorrow Now is one of the more promising new releases in drum & bass since Tokyo Prose's similarly serene drop on Samurai back in 2011.
Tracklist01. Riverside Blues
02. Ephemerol Test
03. Exponent Of Escape
04. Soho
05. TMA1
06. Empire
07. Beyond The Wall Of Sleep