[Purple Maze]

Another day, another debut by a pair of unknowns on an anonymous label. It’s the nature of the business. And Holland’s The Please do have a photo floating around with one of them in a velvet sport coat, so they have a little bit of edge on the faceless guys already. ‘s-Gravendijkwal, the inaugural release on Purple Maze, is slurred slow house with a distinct soul influence, perhaps comparable to the Studio Barnhus or Workshop labels or a sleazier version of Recloose.

Opener “Abodigital Dishwasher” mixes a tapered disco bass line with sluggish 4/4 and moaning, hymnal vocals. Its low-slung groove is the sultriest, most consistent thing here, as the tracks that follow work with more fragmented arrangements. “Laserguided Weapon” places a similarly pointed bass line amid cheerier surroundings — it’s complemented by a bright, spacey swirl of vamping synths and shimmering tones, the beat a broken skip. The slowly tripping “Sampler Crack” is undercut with crackling textures and a hazy organ line, which transforms into a meditative solo near the end. Finally, “Sealed With A Kiss” is a kind of warped soul edit, as bits of sentimental guitar and segmented hip-hop breaks back chopped little phrases of fantastical lyrics (i.e. “I can turn back the hands of time/better believe I can”). As much as this is a charming set of beat experiments, I can’t help but wonder if they’re better suited to the album format. The Please sit at a junction of several genres, and this is very much what makes these tracks work. By the same token, though, there’s not much in the way of an anchor here.