aaamusic | On 25, Sep 2011

We now live in a post-dubstep world. From its early incarnations as being dark and spacey to it’s latter techno infused noise along with it’s many offshoots. One of these branches as been named ‘blubstep’ a subgenre that is aimed at making the wobbling bass tones of dubstep more emotional. One of the biggest contenders in this is SBTRKT whose use of soulful vocals backed by the spacey beats and big bass has brought this subgenre to the forefront.

Another new contender in this field is the London based Ink Project duo consisting of vocalist Melanie Dymond and producer Jez Lloyd whose latest musical offering is released on Sept 26 on iTunes. The latest single features the tracks ‘Rewind Forward Replay’ and ‘Black Honey’.

‘Rewind Forward Replay’ is starts with a clattering of percussion (and I mean that in a good way) that continues throughout the track and is underpinned by spacey synths drenched in reverb and husky vocal line that actually sounds kind of sensual is whispered to you from low down in the mix. It still maintains the dark sound that made the dubstep genre so famous but this seems to hark back to the darkest of the early days by it’s use of space rather than blasting the listener in the face with brash electronics.

Second track ‘Black Honey’ continues the sensual theme. At roughly the same BPM as ‘Rewind Forward Replay’ but less cluttered with percussion and a lilting piano riff running through it. This piano line gives it a touch of dub reggae due to it’s lackadaisical nature. Backed by abstract soundscapes and the sensual vocals once more that make great use of the space.

Both tracks fit nicely into the ‘blubstep’ subgenre except neither has the wobbling bass that made the style so popular in the beginning. Where the wobble is in these tracks is in the general atmosphere of the tracks. Both have a slight liquid texture to them both flow and ebb in sometimes strange and unusual ways out of your speakers.

This latest single is great offering from the duo bringing together the dark, atmospheric moods of the post-dubstep movement with soulful vocals to create something that is melodic and unusual.

Author: Barry Gray