Daniël Jacques - Mistress 04 EP on Mistress Recordings

DVS1's Mistress Recordings has been blowing up over the past twelve months with a sequence of awesomely understated releases. If parent label Hush is the ground zero warhead detonation of clinical techno, then Mistress is the subterranean nuclear test equivalent, its wares rumbling ominously with a subdued but no less significant power.

This latest release, the Livet Efter Detta EP, is Daniël Jacques first release in nearly a decade. Having kicked his career off with a scattering of releases on Ben Sims' Ingoma and DJ Bone's Subject Detroit Recordings, this initial flurry dried up rather than lead to deluge. Obviously this time spent off the radar has reaped dividends as this four tracker is easily the shining highpoint of the fledgling label's output to date. Taking into account that it is easy to dole out such praise with every fresh shiny that a label puts out, this is said with as much reasoned objectivity as possible.

Sonically, this release is operating in the delightful grey area between house and techno, although diving deeper reveals moods that lend themselves towards soul and hip-hop. For example, the main riff in End Of My World would easily find itself at home on a Prefuse73 or RJD2 track from their glory years. It captures the atmosphere of fleeting summer months in the combination of the soulful keys, that little guitar flourish at the end sample and a languid bongo snippet. The phrase 'start as you mean to go on' has never been so apt.

Competing with that for the honour of pick of the release is Today We Move. It does little more than, and needs to do no more than, echo a spoken male vocal over a spiderish and muted techno beat along with a muffled jazz refrain. The elements used could be counted on one hand and the execution is enviously accomplished. In the same vein, this is then followed by Emotion Devotion, which switches the male vocal for a female one and goes for breathless tension rather than eyes down drug fuelled haze.

Only the heavily swinging Before I Begin doesn't quite manage to hit the heady heights of the rest of this collection. Although, in the context of the entire package, this is like complaining that a large diamond you've just been presented as a gift has a small smudge on it. It is certainly great but perhaps not as immediately infectious as its siblings.

At the end of it all, this, the most minor of quibbles, only really manifests thanks to the sheer quality on show by Jacques. If you've been waiting for an excuse to dip into the Mistress catalogue, that critical release, then your wait is now over.