Jacques Greene - Concealer EP Review
When it comes to making primarily sample-based club music, the middle ground between obtrusive “fratboy” dubstep (which is essentially wanking with laptops) and a drifting atmospheric backcloth is a difficult space to engage clearly, but Montreal-based producer Jacques Greene seems to have set up camp there as if starting up his own personal ‘Occupy Electronica’ movement. And though he may by no stretch be the first or only person commanding this arena successfully, he has entered it with a certain self-confidence and glossy image that demands attention - an image further backed by the video for ‘Tell Me’ (a track from his first EP), in which the camera follows a collection of half-cut models as they return to their hotel rooms. Both the song and the video nail a vibe that lies somewhere between the party and the after-party - something that Greene continues to run strongly with on his third EP ‘Concealer’.Another addition to an increasingly growing list of shit-hot artists emerging from Canada, Greene began making ripples last year with EP’s ‘The Look’ and ‘Another Girl’ released via Glaswegian label LuckyMe. With a dizzying, synth-heavy, and carefully considered sound originally built around R’n’B vocal samples from the recent past, Greene is aptly placed next to Rustie and Hudson Mohawke on the LuckyMe roster, and stands as a formidable rival to the thriving UK scene.
As the inaugural release on his new label, Vase, ‘Concealer’ is four tracks of strung-out house built on foundations of two-step, decorated with awkwardly tumbling beats, skipping 808 snares, and precisely cut samples that maintain enough of a hook to keep ‘Concealer’ dancefloor happy and enough serenity to be inner-earphone appropriate. With echoes of Four Tet circa ‘There Is Love In You’ in places, Greene creates a spaciousness that gently inhales and exhales, breathing life into the gaps that many producers working in a similar region fall between.
Teaming up with Koreless (also on LuckyMe) on closing track ‘Arrow’, the strict control of the collaboration causes a few flyaway moments among its blissed-out and wandering atmosphere. The same goes for the tentatively paced ‘Clark’, but the first two tracks are pensive and detailed in all the right ways, allowing a little more room for exploration. ‘Flatline’ sees Greene switching his usual sampling methods for original vocals from fellow Montreal resident, Ango, which leans more towards standard songwriting sensibilities rather than his already established strip-and-rebuild production technique. Perhaps this is a nod towards the path Greene intends to venture down in the future, but right now he is at a crossroads, and ‘Concealer’ serves as a milestone of a transitional period rather than functioning as a quintessential release. Still, one can be just as significant as the other, and ‘Concealer’ is a a platform for Greene to really excel at what he does best - blending house beats with smooth R’n’B vocals and murmuring atmospherics - and nod towards his own future development. It is an exciting effort from a producer you would do well to keep an eye on.
7.5
By Emma Garland
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