Deeply consuming melodic and progressive house music offers an hypnotic fusion of adoration for the genre and clear skill at the mixing desk. London duo Nichols+Roark bring back the timeless impact of two minds being greater than one, and Static Orders is a rather divine example of that truth.
Featuring the classic two-part release of radio and extended club edits, Static Orders is a pleasure to let fill the space. Delicate synths, pulsating rhythms – a dreamy, other-worldly kind of euphoria, but gentle, and with an oddly comforting warmth to the bulk of its progression.
We build and build, the rising anticipation faultlessly captured, and the drop addictive and satisfying, without being overbearing. There’s also a mildly unique quality to the leading riff – the chord pattern is familiar, but the vocal fragments and this looping, tuneful layer adds something like a pristine balancing of darkness and optimism. It’s soothing, but unsettling, perhaps depending on when and where you choose to listen. And how much conceptual intention you choose to consider.
“So many of the ways men are taught to feel—or not feel—aren’t shouted, they’re absorbed in the spaces between words. Static Orders is a reaction to that silence. It’s about breaking through inherited ideas that don’t serve us anymore.“
Ideally suited for the late-nights with friends but also the introspective, insomniac moments of isolation, Static Orders gets straight to the sheer enjoyment of finely-crafted electronic dance music. The human aspect is essential in music production, more so now than ever, and Nichols+Roark stand tall in that respect.
Stream Static Orders. Find Nichols+Roark on Instagram & Facebook.
