Selling
On Reflection
Release Date: Dec 14, 2018
Genre(s): Electronic
Record label: City Slang
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Album Review: On Reflection by Selling
Great, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
It's easy to be cynical about collaborative projects, with the idea that bringing two names together is just a gimmicky selling point. Not here; Jas Shaw and Gold Panda met as friends, with their priorities being drinking tea, eating cheese, and hanging out in the countryside; as it happens, they also crafted a delightful collection of electronica in the process. While their individual approaches aren't oceans apart, they're both auteurs; Shaw specializes in the slow integration of layers, while Gold Panda has a quasi-psychedelic touch, yet here they meld almost seamlessly, one complementing the other.
Based on rating 4
Two years after Gold Panda's last release Good Luck And Do Your Best and hot on the heels of Simian Mobile Disco's Murmurations LP, the former and Jas Shaw of the latter have collaborated to form Selling. Their collective style is intricate and introspective, melding polyrhythms and analog synths with a percussive drive that is more integral to Simian Mobile Disco's output. On Reflection opens with Qprism, an intriguing piece of labyrinthine house where the dotted quavers don't stop and the sequence ascends and descends like Penrose stairs.
Based on rating 6/10
Selling is the musical baby of the coupling between Gold Panda's Derwin Decker and Jas Shaw of Simian Mobile Disco, two heavyweights of the electronic music scene. They have previously worked together on Gold Panda's albums, Shaw having mixed two of them. Jas Shaw was recently diagnosed with AL amyloidosis and the news is that his course of chemotherapy is going well.
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