No question about it, this is one of the finest tracks released this summer and in 2015 as a whole. A song of restlessness and deep longing, Kai Alce’s “Take A Chance” (which debuted earlier on vinyl and is now breaking loose of its chains on digital release) is exquisite, the kind of track that infects you with a goggle-eyed giddy excitement that makes you want to tell the world about your new love affair.
Kai has by now perfected a formula – and it’s something like alchemy – which has breathed a freshness into Soulful House without sacrificing any of the… well, soul. It’s the last part that has stumped producers over the last decade. Here you have Afro-influenced percussion, a flawlessly breathless vocal and a virtuoso performance from Kafele Bandele’s trumpet all in proper measures. It’s not schocking that the team put together for “Take A Chance” was able to recruit Larry Heard – a man not easily recruited – for a series of essential remixes.
While Kai and Larry Heard are the “names” here, the tracks are all about the interplay of the trumpet and the vocal, both with the music and with each other. In the original mix, the trumpet seems to trail the voice, a distorted but stalking presence following close but never overtaking it, like a shadow on a high hill at noon.
With the digital release comes several additional mixes beyond the four NDATL released on vinyl, including a radio edit and an instrumental from Larry Heard. If I tell you to buy this, I’m stating what should be plainly obvious. The words aren’t the revelation. The music is.
