[Four:Twenty Recordings]

Pseudonyms can serve all sorts of purposes for artists. They can distance the true artist from work they may feel unsure about, morally or otherwise; they can provide a valuable air of mystery for an over-exposed artist; they let someone explore new pathways that don’t fit with their known persona and even allow the artist to break from contractual obligations to get more work out there. In the case of Jim Rivers, whose releases often straddle the line between progressive house and tech house, his Seulo handle provides the producer with a chance to release some of his deeper material. With two releases already under this name, his latest on Four:Twenty Recordings marks his third as Seulo.

“Cabin Fever” starts innocuously enough, its stock standard tribal beginning hinting at a fairly tepid middle and end section. Those fears dissipate around the one minute mark as winding pads that had been gradually building in volume lead to a wriggling bag of Detroit arpeggiation and a complimentary bass line. Like any well constructed groove, all that is required from this point is to play around with the various parts, which seems elementary to Rivers. Andomat 3000’s remix of “Cabin Fever” focuses more attention on the percussion, setting up a combo of hi-hats and percussion that snap back against each other with spring-loaded vigour. Foregoing any of the more recognizable parts of the original mix in favor of high-tension strings and occasional Eastern guitars, Andomat 3000 gives us a superb track of subtle finesse. “What Not” follows with more Detroit laden vibes, though this time on a deep house tip. It doesn’t quite possess the raw funk that typical Motor City house is known for, but Rivers makes all the right moves elsewhere with a rotund Juno bass, flanging chords, and good melody progressions. The Wollion remix fails to hit the mark, essentially coming across like a watered down version of the original, but with three good tracks, Seulo looks like an increasingly attractive diversion for Jim Rivers.