- Unlike -apparently- most people, I get exactly zero sentimental reminiscences -toxic or otherwise- when I hear a play on the S Club 7 moniker. Somehow, inexplicably, I think I managed to miss them the first time round? My bullet-dodging is more skillful than I thought, I guess. I get a whole lot more feels when I hear there’s a new release from prolific producer-performer Death Club 7.
Brisbane’s Patrick King is notching up his third record in three years (and one of them an LP), setting a pretty formidable pace. Last year’s full-length Zenith Horizon was a bit of an epic of emotive and anthemic electro-pop. It was self-released and, as such, I forgive you if you missed it. In the immortal music tipper’s words do yourself a favour, go back and check it out. Right from the beginning, 2016’s Immortal Peaches EP, it was very easy hear that Death Club aspirations are to produce the most crystalline and poised electro-pop, the sort of stuff that would make Robyn, Karin Dreijer or Grimes jealous. I think the album went a long way to achieving that: laying claim to a smooth production aesthetic and songwriting skill that could be world-beating, if the right people heard it.
In its wake we come to Forevernevernever which feels more of a piece with that first EP. There are a number of reasons why. To begin with, the six cuts are diverse, like -for all its accomplishment- they cover more ground than the whole of Zenith Horizon. It begins with a gotcha, just like an EP should, in Brakes On. An update on Moroderesque deep house, with a thrilling urge to party, a surging electro-boogie bass bridge and even an inspirational modulation.
With that diversity comes experimentation, things change fast and unexpectedly. Ex Hex pulls back to a mid-tempo synthbass growl, fronting savagely with the quasi-industrial highly treated steel drum / cowbell / whatever-it-is in the finger-wagging chorus; rolling its eyes and sneering “You fucked up!” The something which ruined that relationship is quickly remedied in the EP’s title track, a sunshiney and bouncing piece of euphoric edm pop “...because I’ll be waking up with you forever!” How things change, huh?
The emotional roller-coaster isn’t over yet, as the flood of positivity is sharply turned off at the faucet and a mournful piano peels out. “I don’t want to / Not without you here.” Suddenly, in a beautiful if jarring transition, Here is Perfume Genius territory. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how you would track the intense mood changes of this EP, so maybe leaping precipitously from feeling to feeling is, cheekily, as good a move as any. Whatever, it’s certainly what Death Club does. We’re back to the bounce with Ur and I thought Miss Blanks had appeared for a guest spot as “I wanna be ur / I wanna be ur / I wanna be ur” bubbles forth. Not so! Instead King is indulging his cutesy hip hop side and doing a Shamir on this seductive but helium-dosed number. I love the breadth of creative vision that could bond ambient synths, trap snares and a meditative, bittersweet pop on closer Warm Blood.
“Tomorrow I could lose my mind” King croons. Given what a wild ride Forevernevernever is, I quite understand. It nearly did my head in on the first listen or two. Almost more of an alarming sizzle reel than an EP. I never say this, but it could possibly have stood to have had a couple of filler tracks to let the moods mature. Whatever else it does, it speaks to a great talent in Patrick King. I feel, at this point, like Death Club 7 has thrown down everything it needs to and is waiting for the industry to pick up the challenge, to make things happen.
- Chris Cobcroft.