Imagine

By: Pig & Dan
Label: Cocoon Recordings
Written by: BenGomori
Rating: 9/10

If you didn’t catch this superb LP on Cocoon in the tail end of last year, do yourself a favour and get on it now. These two talented producers have always had a knack for combining any number of different styles within one track, with a nous for keeping things interesting and innovative. It’s only 7 tracks long, but it’s got a lot of variety and depth. ‘K-OS’ weaves a deep, throbbing, sordid bassline underneath fragile clicks, shakers and bleeps, coming across like some kind of subaquatic tech-trance, while ‘Moths’ contrasts with it’s brash, metallic, anthemic techno sensibilities – aptly titled, with the crescendo sounding like a thousand wings flapping around you at once. ‘Sweet September’ has a serious spring in its step, with muddy, bouncing bass pumping under funky hat/shaker combos and a fizzing, euphoric beefed-up 8-bit riff – like the ghost of trance getting down after a case of Red Bull. ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ starts off unsuspectingly, building slowly into a flurry of sweet, hypnotic, hazy rhythmic synths, underpinned by more murky bass.

It’s full of sounds that are so slight and delicate that they’re only just there – the tiniest of hi-hats, the minutest of bleeps – but all arranged to perfection to create a full, involving sound. Everything sits crisply in the mix, with lots of mindbending stereo effects and panning giving the tracks some serious depth. Sounds excellent on headphones, as well as on a big rig. Keep on eye on these two and check them out if you want to hear an exciting fusion of techno, trance, prog and electro with bundles of character.