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Music moves in cycles, and adapts as it goes, and we’re several generations into the idea of dance music as a nostalgic form, much like seventies rock was for me, and jazz was to the generation prior.
What I really appreciate about the work of Tāmaki Makaurau producer deepState is the lack of irony or remove in her compositions, which sound modern, but deeply honour the legacy of club music in ways that suggest total immersion.
Dreams is full of vocal sounds. Pitched up or down and otherwise manipulated, you only clock some of them as voices after several listens.
There are collections available that contain sung phrases for this purpose, some of which end up on some very high profile records, but who’s to say where deepState , sources hers.
She gravitates toward big broad statements - titles include ‘This Time’s For Real’ and ‘Falling For You’ - and this too feels in keeping with dance music history.
If you recreated a song like ‘Now That You’re Gone’ on acoustic guitar or piano it would be painfully sad. Here it’s buoyed by a massive synth bass and breakbeat shuffle, with results that hit a specific emotion unique to the genre.
‘Won’t Let You Down’ is more upbeat, sliding into a steady 4/4 rhythm, and midway, a piano progression that nods to handbag house from the 1990s.
For someone who seems so immersed in this type of music, it’s interesting that Jessica Morgan has another musical output: playing bass and singing in the indie rock band Wellness. Their songs are charmingly loose and scrappy, and couldn’t be further from these.
Live instruments do make their way into deepState tracks though, like the wibbly saxophone in 'a.m.'
Aside from her innate understanding of the form, what impresses me most about Dreams is Morgan’s skill at mixing. To get even nerdier than usual for a second: that involves EQ, compression, reverb, to get all the elements sitting together nicely. But mostly, it just means the volume of each part is where it should be.
These tracks are expertly mixed, and she’ll throw in things like interesting pan effects for extra ear candy.
It’s an album that perfectly evokes the feeling of being lost on a dance floor, and the mix of melancholy and euphoria this type of music does so well.
