maya jane coles polarises opinion: you either love her or hate her. if you hate her, though, it’s probably because of how popular she has become, and how quickly. but that aint her fault, and even if you thought ‘what they say’ with its hooky, bound to be an anthem organ-line was an all too obvious hit, you’d be hard pushed to level the same criticism at material from her new 2020 ep, focus now: it’s a decidedly mature four tracker characterised by plenty of restraint.
the title track opens immediately with a simple melody progression where each note glows then fades like a distant lighthouse beam… it adds a nice soft focus but rolls ad nauseum, right to the end, and rather serves as a grating distraction from the tidy, shuffling drum work below… if it were lower in the mix; hypnotic would be the fix. ‘the high life’ is less a poppy, deeper, and dustier house groove in place of the electronic overtones of the opener. crackling drums, sandpaper claps, a vintage male vocal and plenty of sepia synths make it a nostalgic cut on the surface, but the hidden blips and colourful below-the-surface squiggles throughout bring it right up to date, and right to the top of the pile.
‘little one’ reverts back to more polished sounds, and ones that take you out of the basement and into a vast, arcing, deep blue night sky. muted synth stabs are allowed to wander free and create huge spaces in their wake, straight through which chugs a train track 4/4 groove (which desperately wants to break out into two step, but isn’t allowed) that hits the sweet spot with every rotation. the most inward and emotional of the lot (her whole discography?) is ‘senseless’ – a cut that churns so slowly it’s almost lethargic. recalling both the warm electronic dub of trentemoller’s last resort and the frailties of dub-pop architects the xx, it’s about as vulnerable a record as you’re likely to hear on the dancefloor.
there’s a diversity and understanding here which, without wanting to sound like a clichéd cheese bag but doing so anyway, means mjc really is living up to the hype.