Simon Baker – Sonar EP – My Favorite Robot Records

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With eyes apparently focused on the future, or some MFRR vision therein, Simon Baker unveils his first EP for the Canadian imprint and, in the process, steps away from the sound of his Traces album, and totems of the organisation that put said LP out, 2020 Vision. It’s not the first time we’ve written something along those lines this year either, with straight up house (whether tagged as deep or not) apparently beginning to fall from the limelight over recent months.

Not that the aforementioned, fad-transcending, long standing house label from northern England has ever been completely du jour. In the past the likes of David Duriez and Craig Richards offered distinctly techier fare, but nevertheless when most people think 2020 they have a particular version of house music in mind. One that wouldn’t sound out of place on the dancefloor at fellow Leeds institution Back2Basics. It’s a similar reading of the genre that has permeated through most of Baker’s work too, not least cuts on Leftroom, albeit proggier moments could be heard on the likes of his remix of Radio Slave’s Bell Clap Dance.

Bringing things bang up to date then, here we find the man offering four tracks of John Tejada-ish tech (or perhaps techno- just) that can’t help but entice our ears. Waves of synth meet clean, sharp accents that highlight inch perfect production, it’s the sound of a different party. Less funky, perhaps, maybe more explorative, but certainly equally focused on the floor. And it does the intended trick, with the result being deep but highly energetic music filled with enough layers to re-confirm Baker as musically astute, rather than just consistently on trend.


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