Art Department – We Call Love (feat. Soul Clap & Osunlade)
_
_
You have to admire the conviction of purists, even when they’re dead wrong in policing the outskirts of genre. Techno formalists tend to dismiss vocal work as so much cheese, but it’s difficult to do so without a smack of phobia when the project’s rooted deep in gay vocal house tradition, not to mention the gothy side of techno. Of course, it’s a stretch to call Kenny Glasgow a singer—the mournful vocals of Ontario’s Art Department sound like transcriptions of unfulfilled desire. (Yeah, it’s Canada week here at Relics.)
Still, I was surprised when the Art Department full-length turned out to have hints of color, rather than total dedication to a Factory Records aesthetic style. To measure these long compositions only as listening music is to forget that crowds are open to soul-baring lyrics at the right moment in a set. I’m particularly drawn to “We Call Love,” a soulful call-and-response routine that kicks it up a notch. For all their sepulchral pull, they’ve got undeniable sex appeal.
_
Art Department – We Call Love (feat. Soul Clap & Osunlade) [download] [buy]
_
