Title: See No Light
Artist: Maxi Roots
Release Date: 01 March 2014
Genre: Dub
License: CC BY-NC-SA
Label: Dub Combe Records
Yes, that date is correct. This release won’t be available until Saturday, March 1st. However, seeing as I publish reviews on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I thought it best to give Maxi Roots – See No Light a bit of light the day before it’s release rather than two days after. It also seems fitting to end the week the way I started it: with a dub release.
However, Brk’s style of dub and Maxi Roots style couldn’t be more different. Brk’s style is almost minimal, somewhat grey and slightly cold feeling. Maxi Roots has a much warmer, organic but very dark feeling.
In fact, the title of the release ‘See No Light’ is a very apt description of the sound of this recording. It is dark, but it isn’t dreary — you don’t have the feeling of the impending apocalypse as you might have with recordings.
No, this is dub in a rather pure form, with some electronic elements mixed in. You would be forgiven if you mistook the Glasgow based Maxi Roots as being from Jamaica. Certainly, I thought they were Jamaican until I looked at the release notes.
However, back to the light, or rather the lack of light. This release is more like the darkness before the light. The darkness in the mind, the sense of a loss of direction, before a discovery is made. It has the sense of being lost, like wandering around in dark caves without a torch and a map and yet knowing that you will eventually find your way out of the darkness and into the daylight.
I think the reason that the darkness doesn’t feel gloomy and doom-like is down to the chilled, laid back feeling of this recording, and the exceptionally smooth sound. This is definitely a recording that fits well with any old-school dub recording.
Maxi Roots: See No Light
Free
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