Lowline Relay Sea Legs (Audio Parallax) Reviewed

Music

Lowline Relay a.k.a. Leo O’Callahan has quietly been putting together a string of releases that seem to be slowly gaining momentum. He’s worked with labels like James Shaw’s Cambrian Line and Gerd’s 4Lux but now it’s time for his first full length offering and it seems like a bit of a coming of age. His new album ‘Sea Legs’ drops on the 12th July on Audio Paralax and it’s a worthy continuation/escalation of his low-fi, low-slung house sound. It’s not ‘blow you away’ stuff on your first listen but that’s not from a lack of quality, it’s just understated.

From the outset this is very much in the same vein as his previous productions and he really cements his sound here; spacious, warm, Rhodes drenched house music. Each track has the space to breathe and develop in an unhurried manner. Some of them have a bit more grit to them though like ‘Travelling Light’ with it’s growling bass and steady build. His style really lends itself to the full length format where he gets the space to try out different ideas and vary his pace.

One of my favourite tracks of the album is ‘Tied Up in Knots’ which is a lesson in simplicity. I love the way just a few choice elements are used sparingly (essentially just a kick, a bass and some keys) and just seem to fit together perfectly. Also ‘Foresight’, the penultimate track on the album, has great energy to it; building a warm wall of sound.

Great stuff from Lowline Relay. The boy’s got legs.