- Aurora Halal's first release on Mutual Dreaming, the label named after her series of parties in New York, is also her first EP. Listening to its four Detroit-influenced tracks, you hope it's the first of many. Take the deeply funky opener "Hazy G," a track that sounds too refined to belong to a debut. Halal's vocal samples and countermelodies are as subtle as the bass and kicks are heavy hitting. "Disassociate" is relatively sparse, with all its elements—an urgent snare pattern, a lighter kick, a spiralling synth melody—thrown into sharp relief. It's spacious and surreal, its layers interacting to form a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
"Overpass," with its three-note synth pad accompanied by little gurgles, is a subtle, swinging cut. Were the mix-down a little different, with crisper snares and heavier kicks, it could be spellbinding, but as it stands it feels a little insubstantial compared to the deeper tracks. Although none of the original's dreaminess is sacrificed, Terrence Dixon's "Detroit Mix" has a good deal more heft, with eye-watering hi-hats, an earworming bassline and wafting snatches of countermelody.
TracklistA1 Hazy G
A2 Overpass
B1 Siren (Reprise)
B2 Disassociate
B3 Overpass (Terrence Dixon Detroit Mix)