Soaring straight out of South London, armed with a surfeit of sentences and stacks of syntactical surprises, 24 year old Joe Syntax emerges from the ranks of New Blood talent to deliver his superb debut solo single on Med School. As his name suggests, structure and arrangement are central to the Syntax sound.
Starting the sentence is half-tempo stomper 'Signal Drop', which swaggers along at 87bpm with a subtle intro, building chord progressions, snappy, clapping beats and bleepy arpeggiated embellishments. Tumbling down into the drop seamlessly, the cavernous subs kick in, with a deep, bubbling bassline and quirky call-and-response riff adding a large dose of fun factor. This is drum-step with intense sub bass pressure and innovative musicality.
Completing the MEDIC24 sentence, 'Sightlines' brings in the verbal talents of Ninja Tune affiliated vocalist Jono McCleery, who lends his soulful vocal style to this quintessential heads down-hoods up atmospheric roller. Inspired by the likes of Booka Shade, Lee Jones and Ulrich Schnauss, Joe Syntax adds a touch of progressive house to the proceedings as he combines gentle percussion and lilting melodies with a warm, rumbling b-line and hypnotic techno stabs.
