[Pampa Records]

It must be hard for producers not to follow the trends of the moment. Constantly surrounded by the music of their peers, aware of what’s selling in the shops, what’s getting the most play, staying true to your particular sound must be no easy task. It’s always refreshing, then, to listen to an Isolée record, because with over 15 years of releasing under his belt, it never sounds like his productions have simply aped the prevalent strain of house and techno around him. Of course it could just be that Rajko Müller is stuck in his own past, that he has merely continued on in the same vein of microhouse that he helped make popular with records like Beau Mot Plage, I Owe You, and, later, Brazil.com. Whatever the case, his releases constantly hit an incredibly high mark of quality, and his latest for Pampa Records is no exception.

All three tracks on the EP sound like they could have come from any time in his career. “Wobble” is typical of the purposeful, minimal house with which he made his name on Playhouse; clipped synth notes and cornered smudges of bass sketching out the bare-bones groove of the track. By comparison to the two tracks that sandwich it, “Wobble” sounds icy cool and detached. “Allowance” works around a central melodic theme that wraps you in a cozy blanket of sentiment. Isolée has the core parts all follow each other, and throughout continues to add new sounds and variations, giving the first impression of a track that is almost simplistic in its approach, but upon further study turns out to be an intricate work. “You Could Do Your Memories” is even more saccharine; its wistful piano keys, muted guitar sounds, and gentle lull of bass frequencies are so emotive they could induce tears from a stone. More quality, then, from a producer who rarely puts a foot wrong and a label that continues to show the same good form.