Last year, Katie wowed us all with her extraordinary ‘Pipes’
release on Blue Tapes', which Dandeilon Radio listeners voted into the top twenty of last year’s festive fifty. Gately's broad appeal is both reassuring and telling: however challenging
her music, it’s easy to find yourself captivated, drawn in and submerged into
her blissful soundscapes. It’s what
makes her a unique artist – she can absorb you effortlessly while leaving you
gasping at the audacity of it at pretty much the same time.
She’s on similarly fine form here. ‘Pivot’, like its illustrious predecessor,
doesn’t so much give you a tune to listen to as take you on a whole musical
journey. Gately’s tunes can be hummed in the bath (I’ve done it)
but they offer so much more: this is music to be immersed in, to surrender to
and, if the opportunity presents itself, to build your entire day around.
Tlaotlon offer music of a similar substance but
something different all together. This
is electronic music of stunningly detailed intensity, offering rhythms that
punish and pulsate in roughly equal measure, fragmented stabs of caustic sounds
as opposed to Gately’s bewitchingly weird sonic manipulation.
What they both have is that remarkable awareness
of how the world can be simultaneously a very dark and a very beautiful place,
together with the rich ability to express this in sound. It demands to be heard. I'll be playing the Gately track in my November Dandelion Radio show, which will be streaming from Saturday, and you can cop the rest of it by
getting a copy of the release in all its 12” glory or as a download here.
