Duff Disco - Sunshine EP

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  • Even when Jeremy Duffy applies his name and his bathing-in-sound technique to dubstep (as, what else, Duffstep), there's something inherently beach-ready about it. So of course as Duff Disco he really layers on stuff that evokes endless-summer. Echo abounds on Sunshine; it helps give the early '80s ambience of his sample material—those plucked guitars and glassy pianos and synthy strings—some additional heft. It's as idealized as chillwave but nowhere near as messy. For all his hypnagogic effect, Duffy likes classic structure—I could see him developing along the lines of Trentemøller, with the obvious caveat that the two sound nothing alike. Honest, plenty of house producers wouldn't have even thought to put a bridge on "How We Do," much less one that utilized the "I need . . . what you need" vocal snatch, to that kind of ecstatic effect. The triumphal piano solo, fritzing little staticky synth line tugging along below, and camp violin fills are all bows to a deeper lineage—and not in an obviously codified "deep house" way, either. "I Remember" has a charge to it as well—strutting disco-funk with aquatic guitars pouring from all corners, with generous filtering and echo give it a cavernous dub feel without unlocking the drums from dead center. "Sunshine," needless to say, goes straight to the sand. Stretched-out rhythm guitar flecks carry the rhythm as electric piano chords drone and phase over an armor-plated version of a baggy-circa-'89 groove. On all three, Duffy's elegance is growing noticeably. I wonder what he could do with a real vocalist?
  • Tracklist
      A1 How We Do A2 I Remember B Sunshine
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