Pearling a Pokemon itch, Xylitol opals an enviable optimistic. The maligned clubland default of drum’n’bass given a serious facelift as those needling hi-hatted hares of “Jelena” leap into some heavenly lifts and whispery ambient glows, something Kate Bunnyhausen expertly showcased at her recent Acid Horse outing.
A colouring book of shuffled false starts and pixelated daisy chains — “Anemones” is fun — a somersault of super cuteness landing into the glitter-cloaked jamboree of “Moebius” and its tasering cymbal zisssss. The soft-focus cushioned snare on “Maplin Syrup” dailling down the snap into a shroomy shimmerartion.
The fluttery light-hearted approach here is going down well, as it blows tonal bubbles over dubby mousetraps on “Dobro Jutro”. The occasional quiffs of Casio hi-lights skipping lazily through, always attentively shifting the dynamics, slipping in extra spice to the terylene sheen. That flanged echoed relapse overtaking those dry splinters and glassy trinklings of “Dasa”. The spacey fringing that creeps over the song’s later parts levitating the livery. Everything leaps your ear with a renewed vigour, each track’s foundation skit-a-scattering out on different flavours and fresh frequencies.The taste-the-rainbow harmonics of “Iskria” licking at that typing pool quick-fire crunch, glinting with (what sounds like a) back-combed bossa nova. Sometimes it feels like a fencing match in a plexi-box, other times jumping beans full of thumpy recoil that contrast beautifully with that Vangelis smoothness that squirts through like a spiralling doodle.
This is my kind of dance music — keen on keeping things interesting. Knifing the generic yawn out of drum’n’bass while injecting lots of well-placed mischief. An inventive listen that sweetly sails away from you on the drumless outro of “Empty Vessel” as its saccharined twilight disappears into a 78’s crackly grooves — just what the doctor ordered.-Michael Rodham-Heaps-
