Clouded in mystery and employing a previously unheard of moniker, Abstract Division delivers a powerful maiden track, 'Shifted Reality' on Dynamic Reflection. Combining hypnotic pads and bell-like sounds with carefully shaped drum patterns and a subtle underlying atmospheric layer the track manages to create a rare, essential kind of drive. 'Shifted Reality' leaves one with a strong anticipation for future releases from this project. If this track is any indication, that future does look bright indeed.
Berlin-based Milton Bradley delivers the first remix of 'Shifted Reality' and takes a characterizing dark and creeping approach to it. By carefully distilling crucial elements from the original track, adding introvert percussion and his trademark distant, alienesque dronelike sounds Bradley shapes an emotional, dragging, stripped-down remix, perfectly suited for dimly lit basement parties. Subtlety is key.
The flipside features a rough remix from Moscow-born sought-after producer Dasha Rush. Staying true to the original track by incorporating similar drum arrangements and blending a number of instantly recognizable sounds, Rush's remix introduces throbbing bass stabs and occasional well-placed broken beats. As such it succeeds in communicating an entirely different, much darker ambiance, making it stand out as the most likely weapon for peak time sets.
The final track by Abstract Division is dubbed 'Fluctuations' and does its creators justice by layering eerie crackles on top of an abstract soundscape, shaping an intensely haunting atmosphere. A mix of uncertain emotions stems from it, crafting a pressing sense of something, or someone being out of place. A feeling that resembles the batteries of your only torchlight beginning to fail and the light clamping on to the last cracks of energy left, just as you enter the grand hall in an abandoned factory building at night.
If this year's previously released Global Journey and Control Node EP's, containing work from Forward Strategy Group, Peter van Hoesen, Samuli Kemppi, Boex & Miller and Dynamo haven't already made Dynamic Reflection's presence heard in 2011, this EP will erase any remaining doubt. When one then considers the fact that the upcoming second and third instalments in this series will feature remixes by a number of big and highly interesting names, it should be clear that Paul Boex's Dynamic Reflection label claims its spot on the A-list of names to look out for.