Dam Mantle – Brothers Fowl

Album Review by Bram E. Gieben | 04 Dec 2012
Album title: Brothers Fowl
Artist: Dam Mantle
Label: NOTOWN
Release date: 17 Dec

Following a slew of well-received EPs for labels like Get Me and his own Growing label, Glasgow-based Dam Mantle returns with an eight-track mini-album that deftly showcases his chilled, electro-influenced productions. Beginning with the two part suite entitled Canterbury, a vinyl-static and synth-led outing with nods to dub, hip-hop and broken beat, Dam Mantle creates a vibe that places his work in the same bracket as the likes of early Mo Wax pioneers like James Lavelle and Palmskin Productions.

Eschewing the smokers-delight bass and paranoid atmospherics of that nascent trip-hop period in favour of a more sunny, dubbed-out, chillwave ambience, he switches up the mood with a beautiful female vocal on the house-influenced Lifting, and increases the tempo on the jazz-flecked breakbeat of RGB. The title track nods to UKG and 2-step, pairing a high-tempo beat to fluid washes of processed synths and vocals. Closer Spirit again takes cues from jazz percussion, welding an oddly-tuned piano riff to clattering, soft kicks and cymbals. A superbly-crafted collection. [Bram E Gieben]

http://dammantle.com