Blissed-out hip-hop hypnosis doesn’t come more nicely packaged than this.
D. Tech’s Iris swells up into a subby, discordant groove from the get-go, time being marked out with crisp sixteenths on an 808 hi-hat, while arpeggiating keyboards, drenched in reverb, create an insistent melody that ultimately brings the hypnosis!
A flam-ing snare spits and stutters across the smooth groove while the thunderous sub bass underpins everything with warmth and depth. It’s the sort of piece you could imagine Jean-Michel Jarre creating if he ever chose to move into this genre.
What initially seems to be a repeating pattern reveals more layers as you continue to listen; subtle changes in percussion and the addition and subtraction of warming pads, white noise sweeps and vocal stabs mixed far away in the distance, all adds well to the overall vibe.
Most tantalising of all is the outro, where the mask comes away from Iris for a moment and a different colour of sound is revealed… only to be instantly faded out, leaving this listener keen to hear where things would go next.
Perhaps the most obvious thing to say is that this track (itself only a smidgeon over 2 minutes long) is crying out for some vocals to sit on top of it. It’s easy to imagine a Drake-style vocal treatment taking it into some new areas with additional melodies and rhythmic syncopation.
As it is, Iris is an accomplished and engaging instrumental that deserves some extra ingredients.
Find & follow D.Tech via Instagram. Check out our interview with D.Tech to find out more about him.
