[Perlon]

Her first two releases showcased a producer with a penchant for oblique, compelling electronic arrangements. The third finds Margaret Dygas hitching up her dance floor britches while keeping the thrilling patchwork of ideas inherent from her beginnings. Now residing in Berlin, Dygas has perhaps drawn on inspiration garnered from playing in the clubs there for this late night minimal two tracker. “Invisible Circles” creates immediate atmosphere through the sound of a record needle picking up background ambience as it travels its circuitous journey. When it picks up steam the track revolves around heavily accented, palm slapped drum skins with a demented, undecipherable, pitch-skewed commentary adding a maniacal edge. Further layers of percussion echo and decay in the mix, heightening the sense of unhinged fervor created by the incoherent voices. “Invisible Circles” is one of those tracks that completely casts you adrift in a club, depriving you of spatial awareness and messing with your ears with its ambiguous, distorted vocals.

“Frankly” is almost entirely at odds with its predecessor. Whereas “Invisible Circles” was a relatively barren affair, “Frankly” is plumped up with a myriad of sounds, from the obvious strummed guitar and muted jazz horns to the barely noticeable ringing of bicycle bells, birds chirping and trains squealing to a halt. The muffled horns breathing through the first part of the track are themselves at odds with the use of guitar, which is introduced later on, but Dygas somehow makes these disparate elements work together. The strummed, acoustic licks veer perilously close to the edge of cheesy abandon, but are roped in before they are allowed to develop any further. The compressed, punchy arrangements give “Frankly” a bristling, energetic quality while the incidental noises and lighthearted feel of the melodies contrast against the brooding lower frequencies. Dygas’ Perlon debut highlights a skillful kinship with Baby Ford and Ricardo at their best and hopefully marks the beginning of a more steady stream of releases from this extraordinary talent.