[Crème JAK]

The one-track 12″ is always an audacious move, especially when the one track wraps up in under seven minutes. Evidently Crème Organization’s JAK sub-label knows this, and so their promo page for “Final Approach” even includes a kind of disclaimer: “Pardon our references, but every once in a while it hits…” They’re right, though — this is easily one of the most personality-filled compositions to emerge from the 2AM/FM collaboration between Tadd Mullinix and D’Marc Cantu.

The track begins with some creeped-out pads hovering around an atonal bass line, and soft kicks eventually dip in alongside a spooky melody. There’s a tough, tightly wound interplay between the bass line and the kicks, and things could probably end up in jacking territory if everything wasn’t quickly pulled back for a wordless vocoder, which takes center stage for the duration of the piece. Eventually a vocal materializes, repeating Love is the way” — a cheery message for such a smudgy, autumnal track, but it works — it’s downcast enough to not cause any congruity problems. Between the aerospace-referencing title and the slow-building, haunted atmosphere, “Final Approach” is fairly reminiscent of Legowelt, who would no doubt include it on a CD-R with a back story and fifteen other tracks. Although it certainly doesn’t deserve to be buried like that, it could probably benefit from some bolstering, some context. “Final Approach” feels almost like material from a soundtrack, a fragment of a larger story.