Ivy Lab, also known as Sabre and Stray, willfully break down genre boundaries with the ‘Demon Dust’ EP. It is born from a love of UK bass but plays with tempo, collides hip-hop with jungle, LA humidity with London grit, and so much more. Following releases on the likes of Dirtybird and their own TWTW London imprint, they now land on the Australian Future Classic label, with the first single ‘Backshifting’ dropping in November and the entire EP following suit in December.
“We’ve built a hunger to unleash a solid season of dance floor material and to do so in spaces we’ve either neglected in recent years or yet to have turned our hand to. We’re still always gonna carry our baggage as bass heads with a love of hip-hop with us, but the genre pool where we can explore those themes is deeper than ever, and we have so much to say in that conversation” – Ivy Lab
Successfully test-driven by dBridge and Ehua at Draaimolen, opener ‘Backshifting’ is a joyous blend of dusty breakbeats and pitched-up vocal hooks that make the heart flutter. The sound design is next level as the fractured loops and bursts of synth all soar and bring the good times. ‘Fool’ is a deeper excursion with gentle amen breaks worked into a sinewy house groove that bubbles and souls with mystic hooks and warm chords. The title track ‘Demon Dust’ highlights another angle, blending screwy acid with beautiful piano chords, bursts of breaks, gospel chorals and slamming hits. US scene mainstay Nikki Nair then remixes ‘Backshifting’ with his signature blend of percussive club music, closing out a hugely original EP that combines many different moods and genres, all to energising and emotional effect.
