9.8.20 by Matty McPherson
Arguably, the best tape is a twofer tape. I do not want to get into the logistics of what a twofer tape is-you just know it when you see it. Anyways, I was on the Bandcamp the other day, window shopping when I stumbled across a real twofer! Coming out of Kid Smpl’s Display imprint, catalogued as D021 and D022, it is Shayu and Cares.
Display functions as Kid Smpl’s imprint for showcasing “single track explorations”, with the only catch being that each track has to be between ten to fifteen minutes. The results of this limitation combined with Kid Smpl’s curation have been bringing out explorations. Consistent in their assured single quality, even when they work less as straight club music and more like the sound of one club goer accidentally stumbling into the comedown room.
In the case of Shayu’s “The Lake Down There”, the comedown room may not even be at the club, but back in your bed. Angelic vocal harmonies, faint strings, and an ambient swirl that suggests the warmth of the night of, without any of the sweat, open the track, letting the drum beat come to its senses as you yourself finally begin to get up. Yet, even as this part works as a perfect start to the day, Shayu switches things up, with the remaining two thirds of the album building back up to the night before, a slow reconstruction of the club, like a brownout suddenly returning to focus. The ambient mix and emphasis on those vocal harmonies enact a light, fluffy quality to the music
Cares’ “Praying to Sponsor” is another deconstructed club effort. Yet, Cares’ does not have the same dreamy affections and is much more panoptical in its ambient dirges. Synth floods the boombox, with a plethora of static itching to burst open-until it does in its final third. Screeching in at the velocity of a war machine, the track practically tears itself inside out until it leaves behind a silent smolder crater of a final minute as the tape winds back.
As far as twofers go, this is perhaps a real double shot! The consistency on display in longform songwriting is practically bubbling with possibility. Without losing its sense of direction the tracks on this Display tape see the club extended far beyond just the floor with its monotonous beats.
Available from Display, Edition of 45
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