- Saoirse's debut EP features bleary yet bouncy tunes made for the wee hours.
- There aren't many people as steeped in dance music as Saoirse Ryan (who, full disclosure, works for Resident Advisor's ticketing operation). Growing up, Ryan was the dedicated valet for her mum's afterhours before spending time with her on the free festival circuit. It was only a matter of time, then, before Ryan stepped up to the decks herself. She's made her name purely as a DJ, despite being told that "to be able to play records to people you need to make records for people." But now, years into a successful DJing career, she's finally turning in her debut EP, one that was worth the wait: Trust is a stellar record chock full of wavy techno and house destined for those hallowed hours in between night and day.
We had a taste of this afterhours vibe on her slo-mo collaboration with Roza Terenzi, "Sxc Saloon," earlier this year, and the title track picks right up where that one left off: even the gentle waft of chords can't dilute the unease of the gong and flitting snares. But there are glimpses of the sounds of the festival stages Ryan plays, like "(.)(.)," whose bleepy chitter-chatter puts it up there with the best wonky minimal and tech house coming out on labels like LowMoneyMusicLove and Pager Records. You could easily imagine the springy bassline on "Drop The Bass" setting off a Croatian beach party, but the track is still delightfully weird, as electro-inspired drum programming and robotic vocals rub elbows with bleary-eyed minor key synths.
As a DJ, Ryan has been able to straddle multiple worlds, starting as a hard house DJ in Dublin, holding residencies on both RTÉ and Rinse FM and gracing many festival stages (sometimes as part of a truly indomitable quartet). She's even called festivals her "natural habitat." But like a Saoirse set you'd hear at such an event, Trust is a far cry from cookie-cutter dance music. Ryan instead opts to explore both the elation and the anxiety, the agony and the ecstasy, as these four tracks stutter and stagger like the last punter looking for their tent at midday.
Tracklist01. Trust
02. (.)(.)
03. Drop The Bass
04. La Burbuja