- After Runner, his bubbly, African-influenced album for Crosstown Rebels in 2010, Christopher Spero's Glimpse project has moved incrementally closer to the leaner, crunchier sounds of techno. Now on his second release for Aus after last year's True South, Spero returns with a workmanlike single that, while sitting comfortably alongside the likes of Bicep, Dusky and George FitzGerald (who actually featured both tracks in a recent Essential Mix) draws more from hard-edged machinery than blissed-out house.
"Barretta" is the more surprising track: essentially a seven-minute stutter, its central vocal sample is a sound blip, recycled hundreds of times over in mind-numbing repetition. A gloomy bassline kicks in around the two-minute mark, but almost all of the dramatic development comes through the subtle application of sound effects that recall creaking wood floors, fluttering decks of cards and sticks scraped across uneven surfaces. It's standard dance floor functionalism applied creatively, using monotony to highlight parts of the mix that don't necessarily jump to the forefront.
"L.E.D." is a tidy slice of tech house in the vein of Dense & Pika, Spero's collaboration with Alex Jones. With a woman's voice insistently claiming that the track is "heavy, heavy, heavy," it seems destined to add muscle to DJ sets without stealing the show. Both tracks offer an appealing mix of rigidity and improvisational flourish. It's nothing too demanding, but it's a well-executed example of what Glimpse does best.
TracklistA Baretta
B L.E.D.