Munich-based duo Brax Moody and Vamparela first launched their Local Suicide DJing / production partnership back in 2014 with their debut ‘We Can Go Everywhere’ EP, and since then they’ve continued release a steady stream of 12”s on labels including My Favorite Robot and Eskimo Recordings. Arriving on Chloé’s Paris-based Lumière Noire, this latest 12” EP sees the duo collaborating with German-American vocalist Nicki Fehr, and offers up two new tracks alongside four remixes.
The accompanying bio describes this as “a slice of comatose disco”, and it’s certainly an apt description for the narcotised and hypnotic atmospheres being traversed here. In its original mix version, title track ‘Leopard Gum‘ comes on like some curious witch-house / EBM hybrid as Fehr’s pitched-down vocals mumble against Vamparela’s brighter backing harmonies, the implacably mechanistic drum machines that crawl against icy coldwave synths suggesting early Mute Records more than anything else (think somewhere between the Normal and Clock DVA).
‘Already There’ occupies similarly woozy territory but injects more muscular bass sequences, the splashy handclaps that play off the track’s throbbing analogue bottom end providing plenty of space for Vamparela’s whispered vocals to trace through, in what’s perhaps the most immediately approachable of the two new tracks here. The selection of remixes on offer here is no less impressive with Lauer’s reworking of ‘Already There’ rewiring things towards sheeny New Wave pop-tinged electro house that sits closer to the likes of New Order as stacked handclaps intersect with airy synth riffs.
Elsewhere, former Blackstrobe member Ivan Smagghe joins forces with Rupert Cross for a remix of ‘Leopard Gum’ that’s perhaps the biggest highlight here as grinding distorted synth sequences meld with with ghostly 808 toms and a cavernous lake of looming sub-bass (indeed, it’s easily one of the most intoxicating examples of goth-y electronics I’ve heard so far this year). An excellent EP that’s well worth seeking out.
