GREANE / GIGHA by LORD OF THE ISLES

Synth-heavy release with intense drums. The flip is a little more laid back but still in the same style.The prolific Lord Of The Isles (aka Scotland’s Neil McDonald) has had a string of 12”s over the past few years on labels such as Permanent Vacation, Unthank, Shevchenko, Mule and of course his four track ‘Year Of The City EP’ on Phonica. This time LOTI presents two long-form tracks, each a mini-masterpiece in itself. The 10 minute plus ‘Greane’ bursts into life after an intro of kicks and white noise hi-hats. It continues to slowly build, with pitch-bent synth lines and a pulsing bass-line making way for a melacholic shift in mood. Truly original stuff! On the flip, a swirl of synthetic strings introduces ‘Gigha’, in a manner that brings to mind Rhythm Is Rhythm’s legendary ‘Kao-Tic Harmony’, before the drums and infectious acid-line join in. Over the 8 minutes they continue to interweave and play off each other to dazzling effect.