★★★☆☆
It’s not unreasonable to liken Laura Jones to the queen of deep house following releases on Crosstown Rebels and Visionquest. Does such a title translate into quieter and stormier quiet storms, and are queen and ice queen one and the same? Well, the Leeds-based spinner does do textured grooving keen to defy typecasting. Soulade’s excellent, deep to the point of sounding disgusted “Fora da Chuva” is a sure way to get noticed straight away, well followed by a Burial-like remix of Homeboy’s “Halfway” by Youandewan as dimensions and boundaries receive assertive pushes.
After such an exceptional opening, there is a pullback cooking on a lower heat, fixing heads into the accepted downward position as bass rhythms settle into fading to the black of the arena or the hazy orange of the setting sun (step up, Ultrasone’s “Here and So Far”), and the remainder of the mix, tightly prepared as it is, never quite gets back to its opening heights. At least intrigue persists elsewhere, where a thin air of mystery circulates My Favorite Robot’s storybook electro vanquisher, Polyrhythmics’ desire to float and Studio B making things go bump in the night. Overflowing with classiness for dusky stalkers and evening shade-seekers, even if, dare it be uttered, it’s a little more conformist than the opening sequence lets on.
File under: Tevo Howard, Matt Tolfrey, Ryan Crosson