»Distance« has a highly informed agreement with techno that will blow the Christmas stress out of your ears after four tracks. Black Merlin, whose real name is George Thompson, makes his début on Transmigration’s Crystal Ceremony sublabel and shoots a lot of bass into the labelverse for the occasion. The American producer, who also likes to hang out in the jungle of Papa New Guinea and record birds of paradise, knows what he’s doing. When he’s not recording in the field, he’s creating a unique transcendental club atmosphere with tracks like »Morphik Uniform«. Maybe it’s the oceanic birds that mix with the dreamy eeriness of a dark dance track. On »Distance« the whole thing is broken up, only to get lost again somewhere in the jungle with »Makio«. Whether on ayahuasca or in Berghain, it doesn’t really matter: Thompson delivers the music we need when we stagger back from our holidays looking like a Christmas cake and need to get our act together. Or not. But we can be sure that Black Merlin is on the right track.
Distance
