Persuader, The (Jesper Dahlback) Autumn Leaves EP

Equally known for dark electro-pop as DK7, muscular club tracks with Tiga or powerful high-profile remixes, Jesper Dahlbäck has dutifully served techno in all its forms over the last two decades and turned into one of the pillars of the scene. As with most electronic heavyweights, the Swedish producer's catalogue holds plenty of more or less hidden sub-projects that experimented with techno or house in the past, and remained pivotal to many. One of them, the Persuader, was among the few names that built cult label Svek, an underground brand of refinement that spawned dozens of forward-thinking and neatly cut house/dub 12 inches between 1996 and 2003. That's this very facet of his music personality that Jesper offered to reincarnate for the 5th installment of the Concrete Music label. More than ever in the Dahlbäck canon, Autumn Leaves veers towards the abstract, as opener "A Hymn To Him" suggests. Under a line of sizzling metallic hi-hats, some sparse piano keys respond to erratic moody chords, suspended amidst an almost beat-less landscape, conjuring both a feeling of space and solitude that one Murcof wouldn't deny. One has to wait until the second track, "Sun Position", to hear a proper techno pulse, though transposed in a dark, puzzling setting made of ominous synthetic slabs that resonate with claustrophobia and gloom. The B face smoothes round the angles and shifts us to more familiar grounds with the softer and friendlier forms of "Jaco's Ladder", a relaxed moment of classic-house warmth caressed by loungey chords. Concrete nights resident and Perlon regular Cabanne then softens the vibe of "Sun Position" and gives it a more comfortable but insidious minimal house background, as a closing to this captivating and contrasted set.