Premiere: Morgan Hislop – Smitten

After a number of remixes and singles – most notably alongside Hairy Hands for ‘Bright as the Moon, But Darkened By The Drama’ for Activia Benz’s Singles Club – drummer and producer Morgan Hislop will be releasing his debut EP. We’re lucky enough to be sharing with you its title track, the footwork-flavoured Smitten, first base for learning about the forthcoming EP.

Speaking to us via email, Hislop tells us that this track is an illustration of that “floating, 'in-a-bubble' feeling” you get in the honeymoon stage of a relationship. “You get wrapped up in your own thoughts,” he says, “and are suddenly and irrationally welcome to change and things going on around you seem so distant.”

It all grew from there: “This EP as a whole evolved and grew with me, been a weird project companion in a bit of a turnaround in my life,” he tells us; indeed, the EP itself is referred to as an “audio journal.”

Glistening and starbound, ‘Smitten’ pulses with kicks and rollicking snares, plasma synths taking hold with columning sub-bass for an expansive, voidsome feel; soft arpeggios introduce us to new dynamics with stuttering chords and a horizon-melting synth solo, all of it ornamented with a vocal snip played with as if it were putty.

“I am a huge huge fan of footwork,” he says when I ask about its influence on this particular track. “Several years back when I was playing for Tropics we were playing shows with a lot of producers and DJs who were showing the way in the UK through Planet Mu. So I got to see Machinedrum and DJ Rashad and Spinn and it was really inspiring.”

He concludes: “It's not something I would say I consciously take on board or want to convey but certainly some of the snare and hi-hat beats in Smitten encapsulate the jitteriness and pace that is in a lot of footwork.”