'Untitled' is Chad Thiessen’s first solo outing as Neo Image following a string of remixes, one-offs and collaborative sessions as a member of Aquarian Foundation and Kinetic Electronix. We loved the latter’s Music For Beings so we jumped at the chance to check this one out. Thiessen ducks the temptation to deliver two full sides of the sort of swingy sublime house that are the bread and butter of his various collaborative endeavors and instead turns in a shapeshifting suite of tracks that explores a bevy of styles, grooves and weights, which he manages to rein in and masterfully execute in a way that is entirely his own. “Winskill Dub” is a fairly straightforward tracky house rhythm supporting some deep pads, and “Positive Pressure” sounds like the sort of charmingly minimal late nite grooves we tend to look forward to from Omar-S and Moodymann. But apart from these two side openers, the rest of the record is deeply steeped in ambient, minimal synth and even early dubstep. “Duckberg” sounds like a lost DMZ dubplate from 2005, with its pressurized FM bass, springy tambourines and delayed snares floating at a nice halftime 130bpm, while “4B (Dab Mix)” and “Crystal Pool” cap the record off on a beatless and characteristically sublime note. Recommended.

• music label: Mood Hut 2017

reviewed by peanut dust 06/2017