- While electronic music has long been used as a form of protest, its potential for social change has been sadly overlooked in recent years. Portugal based producer Soraya Lutangu is seeking to change that. Named after her deceased nephew, Bonaventure weaves sounds of violence and rebellion into a dance framework, drawing upon an endless catalogue of curated samples. Mentor might only be the Planet Mu signee's second release, but Soraya's vision is remarkably clear.
Six short tracks give insight into Bonaventure's talent and ambition as she turns club music on its head. The glossy and spacious Phsyarum acts as an introduction, ushering in a distorted world of melodic, alien sounds. This tension is immediately capitalized upon as Mentor flips melody into a relentless banger that doesn't compromise atmosphere for intensity. I would have liked to see this momentum carried further, but instead Lutangu seems content with allowing each piece to start out sparse and gradually take form. While this results in some fascinating auditory constructions, it doesn't do much for the project's impact overall.
Features on the fourth and last tracks add some much needed variety into these dance explorations. Debby Friday and Hannah Black find their respective vocal contributions assimilated into a larger whole. Repetitious phrases become sonically obscured as synths and samples work to form an auditory world behind them. Black's input on closer Both typifies these machinations, her delivery becomes increasingly uneasy as the beat morphs from abyssal dubstep into pounding techno. "Both apocalypse and utopia are already here" she chants, a contradiction embodied by shimmering melodies which emerge from the chaotic soundscape.
As great as these vocal cuts are, they're almost completely overshadowed by Impetus. Starting off as hard techno, Bonaventure's claustrophobic palette of sounds opens up into an erratic melody around the halfway mark. When rhythm returns with magnified intensity, it's a thrilling glimpse of what Soraya is capable of. My main complaint is that this blissful release comes only seconds before the song is over.
So that just about sums up Mentor. It's undoubtedly an interesting project, but even the best moments don't feel like much more than a showcase of skill. While the songwriting is consistently solid, I would have loved to see some longer tracks for Soraya to really stretch out and develop her excellent sound design. Themes of racial and political tension allegedly run throughout, and while they're definitely present on a subliminal level, The EP overall feels far more one-dimensional in both content and theme than last year's Free Lutangu.
Still, I have to give Bonaventure credit for exploring another aspect of her style, albeit in a fairly shallow manner. Mentor might be brimming with potential, but it doesn't seem to coalesce into anything truly outstanding. Fans of weirdo dance music are sure to get a kick out of it, but I'm personally holding out for a full length release.
- Boddhi Farmer.