Kahn’s latest EP revitalises garage…

Bristolian, and Young Echo Collective denizen, Kahn has brought out his latest EP, ‘Margeaux’. Printed by Bristol based record store Idle Hands, the EP shows that garage has been anything but idle of late. Where 2-step patterns have been adopted widely by various genres, it’s exciting to hear someone show that pure bass-orientated garage still holds a solid place in the UK scene.

‘Pt. 1’ ticks into a twisting ensemble of atmospheric looping male vocals, which form the core of the melody and is complemented by twitching percussion, which bounces from left to right  (occasionally notes will echo out into the background of the track) and a bass line that’s equally insuppressible.  Pt. 2 takes the EP’s aesthetics and emphasises the ambient elements, breaking up the vocals and employing a darker and richer bass line, throwing into the mix classical garage-esque synth patterns that climb up the tracks back. The EP ends where it began, with impressive surging waves of sound that dissolve into silence. Kahn shows off a refreshing brand of 2-step garage that, having been taken by the more avant-garde music production we’ve seen of late, has come back to show it’s is equally capable of keeping up. Everything is reverbed and spacious but at the same time thoroughly embedded in its own roots.

The EP can be purchased from Idle Hands and boomkat.

Words by Lloyd Greenall.