Zomby

Vanta

BY Daryl KeatingPublished May 17, 2019

7
This EP is named after a substance, and a fitting one at that. Vantablack is one of the darkest materials in known existence; when light strikes its surface, it becomes trapped, instead of bouncing off, eventually becoming absorbed with a 99.96 percent success rate.
 
Zomby's Vanta is equally unforgiving. Looking to his earlier releases won't help you here: there's no cheeky rave revivalism, no staggered one- and two-minute sketches, and certainly no slow-paced sentiment. Vanta is simply five tracks of black-as-coal techno.
 
"Void" opens like a smoky fire drill in the club basement, with that initial panic dissipating into cautious optimism on "Bleed." Don't let your guard down just yet though, because the stretched-out fuzz of "Emerald" is enough to sound the anxiety alarm all over again.
 
There is some playfulness on the EP, however. "Zexor," which sports a lovely acid bass line, is probably as colourful as it gets here — although it's really just a lighter shade of black.
 
This might sound like a terribly moody affair, and it is, but the British producer looks good in this colour. It's a solid reminder of how talented Zomby is, when he stops dickin' about.
(Bedouin Records)

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