The deep house game in Iceland has hit a new level of late, with the Lagaffe Tales boys, along with Felix Leifur, David & Hjalti and Moff & Tarkin, all releasing sublime records throughout 2016 to put the coastal capital of Reykjavik firmly on our musical radar. In particular, Felix Leifur’s debut EP on Dirt Crew - ‘The Sunday Club’ - really struck a chord with me. His wonky, inventive take on house is as intriguing as it is delicious and his use of samples is nothing short of artwork.
Up next is his new six-tracker ‘In General’, again on Dirt Crew, which is the perfect follow up and leaves nothing to be desired. Moving straight into the A we have ‘Eyelids’, with its clunky, mechanical percussion, infectious piano line and the occasional contribution from Minnie Riperton. The ideal introduction into exactly what Leifur is all about. A lil’ bit more moody this time, but with the same LFO’d piano refrains that delicately lace each track. The cheeky trumpet riff that floats in and out from 1:30 is the thing that really draws me to ‘Classy’ - it genuinely sounds like it’s laughing at me, but I couldn’t care less.
The title track ‘In General’ is the third and final on the A. Slowing things down, Felix provides us with a musical gem, enticing us in with some reverb-heavy piano riffs before hitting us with an off-kilter saw-tooth bass. I want to say that this is my favourite of the EP, but that goddam trumpet from the A2 is stuck in my head as I type…
Putting her on her front, we are greeted with ‘Midwinter’, ‘Apollo’ and ‘Mine’ on the B-side. The former kicks off right where ‘In General’ left off, winding us up and firing us out into a shuffle-y medley of sample madness. ‘Mine’, on the other hand, is exactly what we need to cruise out of this EP, bringing it right down to a hip-hop tempo and floating us along on a soundscape heavily reliant on some carefully chopped vocals.
The guys from Dirt Crew have said themselves that Felix Leifur has been ‘working hard since his debut to create a more varied vision of his low slung, hip-hop approach to house music’. That hard work sure has paid off, ‘cause this one’s a peach.
Pick up a copy directly from Dirt Crew, or from your friends at Juno, Phonica and Red Eye.
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