On their sixth album, the French duo Froid Dub once again unfold a kind of slow-motion digi-dub magic that makes a maximal impression through minimal means. »Deep« is the opening track of Positive And Natural. A vocoder voice beckons from within a cloud of bass, casually carried by a trippy groove and a slow synthesiser melody. It is gripping dub hypnosis, and it runs through all eight tracks on the album.
Made with the Roland TR-808, the Roland TB-303 and tape delays, yet without merely stirring up old dust. For although tunes such as »The Swap«, »Positive And Natural« and »Love« all digi-dub in a classically minded way, they feel utterly rooted in the here and now. A track like »Diggin« could just as easily find favour in the dark wave scene. The acid-tinged »No Sense« brings in downtempo vibes in the manner of Tolouse Low Trax. And »Summerpump« could easily be imagined as the cool slow-motion B-side of a PPU seven-inch.
Again and again, an electronically altered voice appears, singing sticky-simple vocal snippets such as »Very dangerous« or »Pump« over its catching melodies. Whether it belongs to François Marché and/or Stéphane Bodin is not indicated. The two Parisians behind Froid Dub remain sparing with information, preferring to let their digi-dub – fizzing, anonymous, androgynous, and usually swaying around 85 BPM – speak for itself.
Positive And Natural
