1-800 GIRLS – When U Call EP

1-800 Girls makes his eagerly awaited return to the Shall Not Fade catalogue with a 4-track tribute to the early-hours ravers. With skittering drums, synth plucks and peppers of whimsical vocals, When U Call EP captures a sound at once blissfully nostalgic to ‘90s rave, and boldly forward-facing in its mutation of today’s scene-defining sounds of UK Bass.

Although barely discernible underneath off-kilter synth stabs and squelching drums, Burial-esque vocal chops do their best to haunt the title track, colouring it with both a sense of melancholy and deliverance. On that same note, enter ‘OCB’. Its stripped-back successor is equally as moody yet somewhat more modest with a mournful melody and minimal drums.

The aptly-named ‘Start Over’ welcomes a switch in mood. With high-pitched staccato vocals and an up-beat drum pattern, its trancey-tempered quality is not a million miles away from the music of Overmono. Finally, listeners of the EP’s closer ‘Move With Me’ need little more than the title’s instruction as its 150 BPM and pop-adjacent vocals do all the talking.