R. Fentz - Exile & Coming Home

Young but already impressive San Fransisco label Manjumasi, run by long time friends Atish & Mark Slee, is back with a third sophisticated EP. This one comes from Russian born, US based R. Fentz with great remixes from Canson and Gab Rhome.

R. Fentz is Zack Yakovlev, a producer who works solo as well as part of Bells & Whistles, and someone who has DJed on big stages with the likes of DJ Koze and Maya Jane Coles, as well as having taken his organic sound live at many big festivals round the world. As part of Bells & Whistles, Zack has released on OM and Thoughtless as well as Desert Hearts. This R. Fentz debut rounds out another great year in fine style.

The excellent ‘Exile’ is the first original here and is seven spiritual and spine tingling minutes of fluid deep house. Woozy chords drift like smoke and suck you ever further in. Clacking hits add bite and the odd spoken word adds to the ethereal effect overall. It is warm, classy stuff, to be sure.

Remixing is Canson, the Zurich talent at home in places like Robert Johnson and on labels like Cityfox and TicTacToe. His version is slower and deeper, with long legged drums and shimmering chords pitched against yawning and tumbling synths. It’s expertly late night and makes an emotional mark.

‘Coming Home’ is the other fine original from R. Fentz and is another absorbing and cavernous deep house track cut from the same cloth as artists like Fred P. Here smeared pads add colour to rolling rubber drums and make for something soft and supple, cuddly and inviting.

Remixing this one is Gab Rhome, a mysterious talent but one who has worked with labels like Get Physical, Last Night on Earth and All Day I Dream. He opens up space for the groove to really breathe and flow. The brightest vibe of the lot, this one evokes sunny skies, the pleasant triumph of homecoming after a journey well-traveled.

All the masterful tracks on this EP convey a sense of exploration: traveling, yearning, reaching for unknown spaces whilst establishing a sense of place on the dance floor.