Martin Dawson is a fine talent, no question. His work with secretsundaze's Giles Smith under their Two Armadillos guise has been impressing of late, but it's been a while since I last remember hearing something really amazing from him as King Roc. This 4 tracker surprises and impresses, with 'Phidias Gold' the real winner. The track builds from a simple, deep Âme style intro - all muted techy stabs and gently throbbing beats - with big, bold electro synths rising up slowly to create a rousing crescendo. The melodies are powerful and uplifting without being saccharine, and the textures gritty and robotic.
'A Pocketful Of Prose' is aimed less at the dancefloor and more at the home listener - with a primitive, soft old skool electro breakbeat thumping away under melancholy strings and a spacey bassline. 'Hello Infinity' lies somewhere inbetween dancefloor and home - with more energy but that same, deep spacey texture, Kraftwerk style synth pads and toned down beats. Both are nice enough, but pretty forgettable.
Straight-up downtempo track 'The Growing Phrase' is a more effective piece of work - with light, shimmering pads floating beneath the sustained bass notes and gorgeous synth melody that evokes beautiful mid-'90s trance (or "dreamhouse" as they called it back then) Soft, fluffy and gorgeous - it's like musical Valium.