Tensnake starts his year off right with an arresting little EP packed to the brim with euphoric disco rhythms. His sound is unapologetically retro, but it’s not a throwback nor any sort of revivalist revisionism – it sounds as if it’s driven as much by sheer love for music and dancing as it is for any kind of retro purity a la Dam-Funk. Mostly analogue, his sounds have that curious, stretched sort of wooziness that makes early-’80s disco so singular, perfectly executed but not derivative. There’s an unmistakably modern touch moderating all of this as well, a sterile cleanliness to the mixing and a smartly aware ear for club sounds, so for all its hero-worship, Coma Cat is not by any means a step backwards. Tensnake takes the space out of Permanent Vacation’s typical space disco, coming up with something that sounds just as tropical as that label’s usual fare but with none of the concessions to self-conscious weirdness – you won’t find 30-minute long tracks or weird backwards effects or anything like that here. It’s pure, unadulterated dance music, oozing both sex and a sense of goofy fun.
The title track is one of the best tracks of the year already, sounding like it was engineered in some disco lab to hit every pleasure centre imaginable. With mellifluous diva moans, manipulated time-shifted vocals, and piano riff that just demands attention. “Irresistible” is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but it feels like it was made for this track. “Coma Cat” climaxes about three discernible times, and as exhausting as that sounds, you’ll just get right back up again anyway – when you think he’s finally done, Tensnake brings in that piano riff again, controlling listeners like a puppeteer with glittery strings. Even the piano itself feels magical; somewhere between an electric piano, a dulcimer, and a steel drum, it’s the sound of candied, sugar-coated joy, sickly-sweet and hopelessly addictive. Add in pounding drums, finger snaps, handclaps, and classic New York-style bongos and, you could imagine how messy the aftermath might be.
The rest of the EP has a lot to live up to, and quite honestly, it doesn’t, but it’s close as could be reasonably expected. “Need Your Lovin’” (presented in a dub version with the digital EP adding on a full vocal), takes cues from Hercules & Love Affair but in Miami instead of NY, complete with a chirpy shrew of a vocalist and synths that sound like retina-burning neon signs flashing by in a midnight drive down the waterfront. The final track, “Get It Right,” is a little underwhelming, sounding like a confident synthesis of what came before, with some added tricks – Adrian Sherwood-style slapback effects, most notably. Really though, even if the other tracks were complete shit, Coma Cat would still be worth picking up for its epic title track. Even if it’s not your thing, it’s worth giving a try – and if unashamedly gay disco music is your thing, well, make room on your list of ‘favourite tracks’ because this is not going to go down unnoticed.
