This right here – this is the good shit. CPH Sessions is the best work Hakim Murphy has done and I say that knowing just how many amazing records he’s got under his belt. The collaboration with Rev S opens with a warning shot: “Booming System” is analog fuzz teased and trained to precision, with claps that ripple across a crowded dancefloor like the spitfire of a tommy gun. Above it all is a beautiful chord progression – elegant and utterly spellbinding. Before I die I’m taking this song with me. The way religious people feel about the Twenty-Third Psalm, or that some feel after hearing Brian Eno‘s “Ending: An Ascent” – that’s what I feel, like my insides have been turned to ice and slowly thawed.

“Booming System” takes up the entirety of the A Side and that’s good because you’ll need to catch your breath, and the quiet, restrained tracks on the B Side provide an exhilarating trip on their own. “Tryout” again captures something of an Eno-esque echo across the fluted spine of electronic music history. This time the sweet melody fully tames the percussion that seems to be waiting for the first opportunity to take over. “Sarah AM” leads back to a sound more oriented in modern techno – dreamy percussion guided into some inscrutable direction, ambling about and leading neither to a massive break or to any sort of conclusion – a broken synth’s last stand. In pieces or as a whole: brilliant.

 



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