It seems peculiar these days to pin a producer to the sound of a single EP, but if Juli Lee has one then I’m in love with it. Breaking Clouds is a buzzy, deep and dreamy excursion into dance music, with an almost arrogant aloofness toward trimming the edges to fence these tracks into a narrow genre. “Cirrocumuli” are those small patches of clouds that form in long rows, like cresting waves frozen at the moment their foam head crashes into the sea. The name is appropriated for the top track on Breaking Clouds, a fuzzy deep track with silvery percussion that stabs through an opiate haze. Top stuff. “You Are Not Machines” appropriates Charlie Chaplin’s famous speech from The Great Dictator, which could be a disaster, but saves it by sticking to its own tempo and internal pulse rather than trying to rise and fall with Chaplin’s highly pitched and stylized oration. Juli Lee is a new name to me but with releases like this I’d guess she’s probably gonna be everywhere.
Juli Lee: Breaking Clouds (MYR)
1. Juli Lee: Cirrocumuli (Original Mix) (6:48)
2. Juli Lee: You Are Not Machines (Original Mix) (6:32)
Originally published inside 5 Magazine #164 featuring Cassy, DC LaRue, Sean Haley, Titonton & more. Become a member of 5 Magazine for First & Full Access to Real House Music for only $1 per issue!
