Doc Sleep - Cloud Sight Fade (Dark Entries)

 

Title: Cloud Sight Fade

Artist: Doc Sleep

Label: Dark Entries

Cat Number: DE-298

Genre: The Holistic Dance 

1: Professor Eucalyptus

2: Lemon Zest

3: Pain Reader

4: Echo Azure

5: Water Sign

6: Cloud Sight Fade

7: Enchanted Static

After having released the more relaxed ‘Birds’ last year, Doc Sleep focusses more on the dance floor with ‘Cloud Sight Fade’, a varied and versatile feast of beats which, while functionally visceral, is deep enough to harbour introspection. I guess this is partly to do with the aura of the collection. The beats all have the attraction of being draped in some sort of tribal fug; something which is never more apparent than on a track like ‘Echo Azure’, which feels almost aboriginal. A similar ambience also emerges within ‘Water Sign’, whose heartbeat feels embedded within the Earth. The tempo is picked up on ‘Lemon Zest’ and ‘Cloud Sight Fade’, with the title track doing its abstract utmost to break the constraints of its context. The bookends each offer something tonally different, while restrained and portentous. ‘Professor Eucalyptus’ is a deep, atmospheric break beat symphony which paves the way for the more upfront ‘Lemon Zest’. And ‘Enchanted Static’ plays the collection out on a more solidified battery. In between, ‘Palm Reader’ is a piece of techno which feels like the accompaniment to being stranded in the eye of a hurricane. This is an album that has a consistently good sense of itself, as well as an intuitive comprehension of not only how to get feet moving, but also what is vital in guiding them to the correct place in order to do so.