low key, low pressure

From the lower-case letters for song titles and album name, to the song titles themselves — jazz beat 08, soft landing, walk in the park -- understatement is clearly a theme on German house producers’ low key low pressure album. When releasing singles, the pair tend to produce slick, contemporary club-ready house music, but this, like their 2020 Needledrop album, is a collection of restrained, classy, instrumental down-tempo, trip hop, alt-electronica, sub-jazz and sampletronica. Their drum tracks — clearly lovingly slaved over in the studio — are all, in sound, tone, production, rhythm, swing, feel — immaculate, and they use them as the basis for moody combos of electrics keys and restrained synth washes, drones and chimes, merging live playing with sampled and sequenced parts. Its music descended from instrumental hip hop but they also stretch out into funk, prime-60s Motown grooves, poppy off-beat and drum & bass rhythms. Almost all the tracks are brief, establishing the groove, then the main idea before swiftly exiting, and despite the variation in tempos and styles across the album, they have something in common in terms of mood. The rhythms may cause the head to nod but there’s the slightest hint of darkness lurking beneath the surface of the laidback vibes that give low key, low pressure an enjoyable sonic tension.