I’ve put myself on a sort of cassette embargo after accumulating stacks and stacks of tapes that never really get played. And I had just about convinced myself to be a bad baby and the pull the trigger on the cassette version of this latest EP from Negative Gemini, when a surprise vinyl edition magically touched down here at Lab HQ straight from 100% Electronica, the label Negative Gemini (nee Lindsey French) runs with George Clanton. Her Body Work LP was ubiquitously hyped in 2016, but this one seems to crystalize all her strengths into a short and sweet package, drawing inspiration from the 6-string balladeering of 90s dreampop, vintage 4AD-grade vocal etherea and late nite MTV electronica; like a feminine counterpoint to Clanton’s recent Slide LP. Opener “Infin Path” draws you into Negative Gemini’s dreamworld, where vaporous pads cascade into jungle breaks and lethal trap rhythms and French’s vocals wax and wane between the cracks. She shifts her sights to balladry on the title track, lilting freely between moody garage (*garridge) shuffle and a gigantic wall-of-sound power pop refrain (reappearing on the B-side in ‘club mix’ form with nods to early Orbital as well as a new remix by Satin Sheets not found on the original cassette). Her melodic sensibilities (and guitar playing) are flexed strongest on “You Weren’t There Anymore,” one of the record’s gentler tracks but also the most enduring. “Skydiver” and “My Innocence” are dazzling as well. At just 7 tracks (2 of them remixes) you’ll be begging for more. Recommended.

• clear & fuschia splatter colored vinyl
• alternate 'black edition' sleeve variant
• limited edition
• music label: 100% Electronica 2019

reviewed by tom violence 02/2019