:: Walking On A Little Cloud

Soul Designer AKA Fabrice Lig

Largely an exercise in nostalgia, this album offers nothing new to the world of techno (or house for that matter). Venturing into the warm, melodic sound of minimal – which I usually love – this sounds like something from Transmat circa – 1988. Fabrice comes with a serious wrap – getting props from Mad Mike Banks (UR), and having completed remixes for Kevin Saunderson and Laurent Garnier. Aril Brikha’s gorgeous album of last year (also on Transmat) is an excellent reference point for what Fabrice is trying to do here. However, where Brikha succeeded – with beautiful synth lines, carefully executed beeps and sweeping melodies, paying homage to Detroit – Fabrice doesn’t offer any great extension on theme, and struggles to even replicate it. If you’re going to copy a genre, the least you can do is reproduce it. Here, a mish-mash of average beats are thrown together with little imagination. The result is a disappointing album from a young artist, on a label with significant prestige.