There is a vocal in Reflections, a single sustained note HEIGHTS holds right at the top of the intro, that tells you exactly how big this one wants to be before a single drum has landed. Kanine has spent the last few years as one of the most dependable names in dancefloor drum and bass, the kind of producer whose tracks you hear out in a set and clock instantly before you ever catch the ID. Reflections is him reaching for something more emotional than his usual rolling weaponry. The build is pure tension, that held vocal stretching over swelling pads until the first drop snaps in on a bassline that is all rounded low-end punch, none of the screechy neuro business. It rolls properly. The groove has that forward lean where the snare lands a hair early and seems to drag the whole track along behind it, which is the one thing good drum and bass does that no other genre can touch. HEIGHTS gets a full topline rather than a lone hook, actual verses, which pushes the whole thing closer to song than to dancefloor tool. My one gripe is that the second drop is a straight copy of the first, a missed chance to twist the knife a little. The groove carried me past that complaint anyway, and the held intro vocal has been looping in my skull since this morning, which is the only review I really trust. Uncomplicated, and very, very good.
Kanine & HEIGHTS is no stranger to this blog. Last time: Kanine & Jem Cooke - Surrender