Bristol-based duo Vern & Milla (real names Adam Verney and Allan Mill) first surfaced a couple of years back with a couple of releases on Durkle Disco and their debut album as Prjkts ‘Ethereal Alams’, and now this latest four track download-only EP offers up their debut release on Keysound Recordings.
Title track ‘Untouchable’ offers up a collaboration between the duo and Keysound head honcho Blackdown, opening this EP with a collision of bottomless sub-bass drops, cut-up rave yells and timestretched broken electro rhythms that calls to mind some hybrid of Milanese and Si Begg, its fractured components held in place by the soulful keys that bleed into the foreground towards the very end.
‘Catch My Breath’ by contrast goes for a more jittery electro-house vibe, sending robotically treated MC vocal samples darting against vaguely Prince-esque vampy synth stabs and rattling snare shuffles, before ‘Shokata’ drops the pace down slightly for a cold electro-funk wander through ripples of synthesised slap bass and eerie ambient whirs, the resulting blend curiously calling to mind a far more abstracted take on one of Harold Faltermeyer’s early eighties film scores.
Lastly, closing track ‘Yoshimitsu’ removes the rhythmic elements entirely, as glittering melodic sequences cycle against brooding bass chords that conjure a distinct post-‘Stranger Things’ retro sci-fi aesthetic. As a quick deep dive through Vern & Milla’s diverse soundworld, this tasty EP more than hits the spot.
