8KAYS & JUAN HANSEN - FALLING DOWN - WATERGATE
Currently shrouded in a haze of duality, melodic techno has peaked in terms of impact and reach, with titanic brands like Afterlife drawing huge crowds with their massive LED panels and over-stimulating visuals. However, the genre that was once coined as “man-trance” has also explored so much over the past decade, that breaking new ground today seems like a gargantuan task. Still, every now and then, some of its emissaries manage to whisper into the machine, suggesting thoughts that awaken the ghost, allowing it to exist beyond the confines of the gun triggers and alluring visuals that profess a trite future. This is one of said occasions.
Following up on the stunning collaboration “Matemática”, which saw Ucranian rising artist 8Kays linking up with Glowal and Abrão, sound-producer and live act Iryna Shvydka is back on Watergate Records with another sublime entry, and her first full-length EP on the revered imprint with the monumental Falling Down.
Another rousing collaboration, “Falling Down” finds Iryna coming together with the multi-talented Argentine composer and performer Juan Hansen (Afterlife, Bedrock, Human By Default). Together, the creative dynamo envisions a dense broken beat that treads with confidence as Hansen’s haunting vocals latch onto a throbbing low-end sequence before a gorgeous sea of swelling synths wash over us in a heavenly hue. With listeners under their spell, Hansen’s vocals walk a most impressive tightrope as he balances hope and vulnerability in perfect harmony for a memorable breakdown, until a gripping final act blends everything together in spectacular fashion with 8Kays & Juan Hansen reaching for a break in the clouds.
The EP continues with two distinct takes on “Falling Down”, the reinterpretations of Chris Avantgarde and Colyn & Beswerda, as the pair collaborate officially for the first time. In fact, it's the Dutch producers who offer the first remix with a blistering rendition that paints “Falling Down” as a brooding piece that still manages to deliver the right quantum of light to the darkest hours of the night. Navigating across a hyperkinetic beat, hypnotic vocal repetitions, and Hansen’s showstopping lines, Colyn & Beswerda’s creation twists and turns in captivating form before the pair unleash an ever-ascending breakdown, only to bring it all back down to the iridescent subterranean passageways from where they came.
Etching a more gritty approach, man-of-the-moment Chris Avantgarde steps up surfacing through a dusky beat as reflections of neon synths tread upwards, intertwining with Juan’s voice in a perfect, symbiotic creation. With a smart production design, Avantgarde imagines a second pause where cherubic pads elevate the piece over the clouds, beyond what the eye can see, before letting us free-fall as melodic embers rise. Following this most overwhelming sensation, the London-based producer locks us in thigh his grasp, as aural waves engulf us creating a sonic maelstrom that pushes “Falling Down” into uncharted waters.
Done with the remixes, the last beat in the comes from 8Kays and her electric “Lyra”. Brash from the onset, Iryna Shvydka crafts a heavy-handed broken frame and sets free a pulsating bassline that earworms its way into our subconscious. In a heady and narcotic ocean, sparkling synths interlock as they cascade over deep-black swells until they are thrown onto the back of Lyra’s relentless groove for an epic finale. Mechanical, yet human as ever, 8Kays’ Falling Down should serve as a reference point for the immediate future of what we know as melodic techno.
Rating: 8.0/10
