A man very much in touch with the music he makes, Hector Barbour recently underwent a transformation, temporarily shaking his Atlus moniker to adopt a new persona: Denis Sulta. Describing this new character to be more suited to the music he has released of late, Barbour returns to Dixon Avenue Basement Jams, of his Glasgow hometown, with a stunning three-track EP.
Conceptually inspired by a roof terrace his brother built with a scrap of astro-turf and a couple of deck chairs, Sulta’s L.A. Ruffgarden EP paints a vivid picture of the space. The title track is a storm of frantic raw synths circling above a shuffling beat. As intensity in the track mounts, the image of electric flashes among an ominously grey sky comes to mind. A musical warning that it isn’t always deckchair weather on the terrace.
The woozy chords of ‘Duh Yeh Luv Meh’ signal the calm after the storm, reminiscent of XXYYXX’s ‘About You‘. As the gentle percussion leads away from the madness, soulful vocals echo across the neighbouring rooftops. A spacious six minutes that surely lends itself to the exposure one might when feel standing atop that patch of astroturf.
‘She Makes Me Feel Like I Never Sinned’ takes things a little darker. A sultry piece, reminiscent of Barbour’s tracks under his Atlus guise. Featuring a number of different instruments which are introduced as the track goes along. With a fluttering flute, distant drums, a bluesy guitar, you get a sense of sound coming from a number of directions, perhaps reflecting the sights and sounds of a bustling cityscape beneath Barbour’s rooftop retreat.
L.A. Ruffgarden EP is forthcoming on Dixon Avenue Basement Jams. If you’d like to buy the release, sign up for an e-mail alert. Denis Sulta plays for Commune in London this Friday alongside Raw MT and Asquith.
