[Safer]

Talking to David Brown from Swayzak last year, we briefly touched on their friend and sometime vocalist Richard Davis. Brown told me that Davis worked at his own pace and no one could force him to produce more of his dreamy, heart-felt, synthetic house. One look at his discography will confirm that the Berlin-based Davis is in no hurry to flood the world with his records, though his limited output clearly adheres to the maxim of quality over quantity. Five years since his warmly received album, Details, Davis returns with a three tracker for his new label Safer (perhaps hinting that we will begin to see more regular material from the singer/producer). Davis hasn’t been completely incommunicado over this time; he’s provided vocals for Holger Zilske, Bomb The Bass and Swayzak amongst others, but What You Are marks his first new foray into production since Details. Typically brooding and sweetly melancholic, Davis treads a line between pop and deep house that would spell commercial success for the artist were radio stations more openminded towards their definitions of pop.

On “Gone Away” Davis sings a familiar song of lament, recalling a relationship gone awry, perhaps of a protagonist who has inspired many such sentiments from the singer in the past. Davis shows his song-writing skills here, not just with his cool, controlled voice but with a track that manages to pair heavily synthetic sounds with authentic-sounding orchestral strings. The vocals on “Remind You” are heavily treated, sounding almost like they’ve been reversed and are bleached out against the background of the dub heavy track. The sparkling glissando of notes Davis strings out over the deep, low-pitched bass line contrasts beautifully, giving a hypnotic feel to the track and anchoring the higher melodies in place. Synth lovers are taken care of with the new wave-sounding title track, which is all gleaming, polished lines, chromed plated house. Davis’ vocals are sparse, used only to accent the track, which is the most energetic, DJ-friendly of the three. I’ve heard Davis’ music being described as mature house music for the older heads, and there is no denying that even when his productions veer more towards the dance floor they are still easily approachable by the armchair listener. The What You Are EP marks the welcome re-emergence of Richard Davis, and his new Safer label hopefully portends a more steady stream of material from the producer.