- Phantom Vibrate—the sensation of your phone going off when it actually isn't—reflects Jacques Greene's irreverent, internet-age sense of humour, although it turns out to be one of the Canadian artist's most melancholy releases. Going light on the syrupy pathos that he usually ladles over his productions, his latest EP for LuckyMe merges the theatrics of last year's How To Dress Well collaboration "On Your Side" with the bottom-heavy sounds of 2012's dance floor excursion Ready.
If "(Baby I Don't Know) What You Want" was the high-water mark for early Jacques Greene, then "No Excuse" is the equivalent for his career's latest phase. The intro features melt-in-your-mouth synths and fluid vocals that drift in and out of actual words, as if Greene were channeling the voice through a ouija board. But when the beat finally drops it's a rude shove, grounding the wispy melodies with a formidable low-end thrust and heavy-duty percussion that could have been taken from a shipyard. Putting a powerful new spin on his well-worn (and oft-copied) sound, "No Excuse" proves that Greene has a few tricks left up his sleeve.
The spacious "Time Again (Feel What)" borrows the same aesthetics—big clanging drums against a soft-focus backdrop—but this time it's set in the wide halls of a cathedral, with resplendent organ and pseudo-gospel vocals adding to the pomp. The EP finishes with a throwback moment. "Night Tracking" has a twinkly synth doused in reverb, and a bouncy, whisper-quiet bassline wriggling underneath. Gently propulsive, it recalls Joy Orbison's "So Derobe" and other post-dubstep experiments as it rides into the sunrise.
トラックリスト01. No Excuse
02. Feel What
03. Night Tracking