- In the first minutes of "What You've Done To Me," a spacious sequence of drums, keys and claps unspools. Nebraska soon adds saxophone curls, Rhodes and a supple bassline, a combination that builds towards the sort of feel-good disco house for which the Londoner (real name Ali Gibbs) is best known. Many producers would add a filter to that and call it a day, but Gibbs introduces a synth that subverts his formula. Slicing back and forth across the mix, the discordant melody adds tension to the A-side's warm atmosphere.
Gibbs has splintered his rich soul samples with electronic fragments before. Older songs like "The Other Side" and last year's Rye Lane Rhythms EP were laced with synths, but the effect was sometimes incidental, a spray of air freshener in an airport hangar. "What You've Done To Me" finds a more integral contrast between its titular sample and unsettling chords, which gives the track a resentful edge. That feeling is amplified on the tip-toeing "SOS Dub," which continues a recent expansion of Gibbs's repertoire. As with "Varkala," from his Soften The Wireless EP, some gentle soundsystem pressure is applied. If Gibbs's music tends to conjure a feeling of luxury, then "Done My Best" is pleasure-as-usual. A smooth tonic of keys, guitars and hand drums, that one's disco-funk is a sweet counterpoint to the sour notes struck elsewhere.
TracklistA1 What You've Done To Me
B1 SOS (Dub)
B2 Done My Best