Arnheim – Foggy Silhouettes – Greta Cottage Workshop

IT’S been a real pleasure watching the talented young Arnheim break through.

Over the last couple of years the London-based baby-faced producer has emerged onto the British underground house scene with a slew of ear-catching releases and appearances on the likes of 12-3, Austere and Disrobe. Much of his inspiration comes from his impressive knowledge of and voracious appetite for jazz and having accompanied the young whippersnapper on a number of record shopping trips around the Smoke, it’s fair to say the boy knows his shit.

So while his latest outing on the always-excellent Great Cottage Workshop may not come entirely as a surprise to those who understand his modus operandi, it will certainly come as a pleasure and a welcome addition to many a vinyl collection.

The four-track Foggy Silhouettes EP is as much homage to smoke-filled dive bars of yesteryear as it is a 21^st century take on sample-based house music. Either way, though, it’s damn good.

Citizen Advice is all about the satisfyingly weighty double bass and melancholic piano chords, a device Arnheim has employed before to great effect by plundering his record stack. The delightful One Beat is similar by design too, just a little more hushed and gentle with it, whilst Mild Silhouette Of A Man again deploys that same dusty jazz club motif but with the addition of a well-chosen Moodymann-esque vocal snatch that transcends the track to ‘what the bloody hell is this?’ level.

But the real standout for my money at least is the beauteous Viction. Although tailored from the same luxurious cloth as the other three cuts, the track is draped in even more heart-wrenching emotion and soul yet stitched together with a pleasing modern thread.

Defiantly different, respectfully retrospective and, without doubt, most excellent. A genuine go-buy of a record.

Check out:

Foggy Silhouettes @ Juno