Not being one to tread water and rest on his laurels has served Scuba well over the years. His rich and diverse back catalogue is a testament to his own desire to challenge himself; to push the boundaries as far as he can before moving on to explore new frontiers. And with his new EP, ‘Phenix’, he has once again stepped up and delivered as only he can.
Opening track ‘Throb’ at first sounds like a spaceship collapsing within a black hole, a brief flurry of mournful strings marking its final demise. From this wreckage plays out a steady beat of thumping kicks and crisp claps and a simple yet haunting deployment of bass, all of which is swept along under a deluge of chiming synths that are steadily driven to the fore of the track on an ever-building wave of intensity.
‘Cyanide’ is the type of tune that could bring out the devil in anybody. A dirty, throbbing bass line and some devilish synth work ooze with that raw analogue sound. The hi-hats seem to melt into each other as the dark vocal simply adds to the air of menace. Don’t be fooled by the break down, as this track soon rips back in to continue roughing you up with the same relentless energy as before. An absolute banger that is set to make dance floors quake at its might.
‘Time Relentless Time’ starts like an apocalyptic alarm clock chiming that the end is nigh. A thunderous kick bears aloft the sot of bass line that you can only find hanging round the wrong part of time late at night. A surprising vocal soars like a shooting start, ablaze with both beauty and power, whilst a shuffling drum swirls around the track like an ever-building storm.
The EP closes out with ‘Curious Paradox’. The drum pattern snaps along like a Transformer assembling itself in clean, concise precision and flow. The bass line bubbles away malevolently in your brain, niggling at the part that tells you to dance, as the synth work descends on the track like morse code beaming in from the outer reaches of the cosmos, tugging you ever further towards a state of elation. There’s even a breakdown that would enchant the ageing B-Boys out there into a bit of action! An absolute delight.
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