Australian electronic producer Sam Grieve is best known for his tracks as Native for the likes of Global Underground, but this debut download-only album under his alternative Lo Tide alias ‘More Than Reality’ sees him crafting a downbeat, hiphop-based collection of tracks that have their roots firmly in smoky funk and soul. ‘My Kind Of day’ provides an apt illustration of the aesthetic at work here, placing a chunky hiphop break against lazy harmonicas, ghostly sampled soul vocals and rich jazz horns in a manner that sits somewhere between the likes of DJ Soup and Bonobo, while ‘All Our Yesterdays’ ventures out into more melancholic, triphop-tinged pastures as cut-up sampled phrases drift out over a smooth backing of clattering drum breaks and smoky G-Stone-esque clavinet grooves.
Elsewhere, ‘Fade Out’s offers up a detour into atmospheric noirish pop as Mark Nunan’s obsessive-sounding vocals build a sense of unresolved tension against angular live drums and wiry lurking guitar runs in a moment that leans closer to Gotye’s cinematic downbeat pop, before ‘Never Coming Back’ picks the pace back up with a shuffling jazz wander that offers the spotlight equally to Michelle Lokey’s soul chanteuse vocals and a spectacular backdrop of snaking, spy-jazz informed horn arrangements that’s easily one of the strongest moments on offer here. While there’s the occasional wander towards more tepid coffee lounge-friendly beats here, on the whole this is strong stuff.
Chris Downton
