Review Summary: The door is always open.
Producer U crafts eclectic house music with lo-fi textures, and that’s about all to be said regarding the reclusive British(?) DJ without guesswork. While facelessness can be considered gimmicky, it allows a listener to fill in the gaps, pencilling in different narratives and interpreting the artist’s mission statement in various ways. Comparing the artwork for
We Decide Who Comes In with the musical themes therein, U’s approach is one of empowerment, settling scores with nonviolent resistance. Lead-in “Our Place” establishes the EP as a hazy defiance piece, inspired by the DJ’s account of being denied access to a swanky dance club in Berlin.
The hefty opener begins with night’s pulse - a distant beat muffled by walls and just beyond reach - while the protagonist drags their feet in despond. As the song gains traction, the rhythms come alive with wispy hi-hats, throbbing bass, wood blocks, and the air of someone who’s discovered their own self-fueled celebration. Various background noises emulate a grim, foggy downtown ambience lit up by feverish dancing in the alleyways. The muddy textures resemble someone making do, using the environment to their advantage. “Oma” hums with city sounds in the form of industrial clatter, house beats, airy synths, and subway station bustle.
While the fuzzy production often works in U’s favour, it occasionally offsets the EP’s mood with startling quirks. The open hi-hats on “Easy Prayer” are cumbersome, neither commanding enough to energize nor subdued enough to complement the otherwise euphoric vibe. As a result, the track is perhaps more realistic in conjunction with closer “Arcane Fantasy”; if “Easy Prayer” is the precarious high, “Arcane Fantasy” is the anticlimax, with moody bass stretches and wobbly synth melodies. The track has a stutter-step, as though worn down and half-sober, but still clinging to the nightly groove until sleep takes over in the final moments. With
We Decide Who Comes In, U sets the terms flexibly. It’s modest in composition, but that comes with the territory - downtrodden, yet still smiling.
