The Pilina Exhibition

A new EP on the reignited  Eclectics label has been getting a lot of my ear time recently- The Pilina Exhibition by Statues, two original tracks and two remixes, both by North Of The Island. Statues are a duo, Bradley Lucke and Mark Crooks, North Of The Island is Neil Scott. The tags on the EP's Bandcamp page include Balearic, Downtempo and Electronic but what's going on across these four tracks goes way further than that. 

Pilina is a laid back opener, definitely in the Balearic area with those acoustic guitars and long synth chords, slo mo drums and poolside/ beach bar melodies- there's some jazz in there too with a sax carrying the tune forward. Unhurried and very chilled. The NOTI remix strips it back to a haze, the synths and guitars much more of a wash with a wiggly sax refrain that works its way to the fore. The drums kick in after a few minutes and everything snaps into focus. 

Ballet is more intense, a hypnotic rhythm and stuttering synths, finger picked guitar and flutes, a psychedelic version of Balearica. It pushes and pulls, all very dreamy and textural. On the remix NOTI cuts the tempo completely, slowing it right down, a padding drum machine and slow jam guitar, a dubbed out sense of space and that feeling on the dancefloor when time stands still, the lights flash, everything drops out, people are moving in cinematic slow motion and you wonder what's happening. Eventually a voice appears out of the haze, groaning, 'I want your love'. Of the four, this is the one I've been going back to the most, a delightfully tripped out way to spend four and a half minutes. 

The Pilina Exhibition EP can be heard and bought at Eclectics. A very promising way to relaunch the label.