The Vancouver DJ and artist LNS (Laura Sparrow) inaugurated her eponymous label LNS-1 recently after a string of releases over 2017 through the Sex Tags Mania conglomerate. Since 2016’s “Heliacal Rising” on Fett Burger’s Freakout Cult, the producer has constantly caught our attention with her unique and melodious take on dance floor genres.
Wether she’s working on her own or collaborating with Sotofett on their various Wania releases from last year, her sound is a retro-fitted Electro- and Ambient creation, born from machines, while retaining an indefinable human charm. Her music proffers a modern, melodic interpretation of Electro and Ambient music, without desecrating the hallowed grounds of its origins. LNS makes textured song-arrangements and effervescent melodic hooks like ear-worms that are able function on the dance floor while holding the listener’s attention.
This approach solidifies her sound on LNS-1 and although only six tracks long it has all the markings of an album. There’s a consistency through the tracks and if you ignore the E-GZR remix, there’s a fractured narrative going from the A-side to the B-side of the record.
“Recons One” and “Wasp” are lively Electro constructions with a certain degree of function in their rhythmical approach, but whose sensuous, layered textures drip with sweet melodic- and harmonic appeal. They arrive and depart in a very purposeful way around the beat in an effort not to overstay their welcome. The results are two Electro tracks that move, modulate, grow and resolve in a very accessible and interesting manner that doesn’t exasperate or bore the listener in the dance floor’s repetitious way.
On the B-side as if the flip of a coin, LNS gives us three ambient tracks, as counterpoint to the A-side with the “July Rain” sitting in the middle as the crux to that side of the record. With a similar pace to the the A-side of the record, but foregoing a regular percussive rhythm section in favour of a quivering Juno bass-line, “July Rain” is that moment of catching your breath during a particularly energetic Electro and Techno set, while at the same time building up the tension for the next phase of a set.
Between the majestic “Filed of View” and the sinuous “Eons”, “July Rain” is the connection between the sides, that “Eons” brings to its natural conclusion with a very lush and heavy cinematic arrangement. Another excellent example of LNS’ textured Electro-ambient sound, LNS-1 is a also great example of the song-writing prowess of the Canadian producer and DJ that has all the markings of moving over to the album format in the very near future.