Contrail

Having previously turned out some refined club tracks for friendly neighbourhood label Banoffee Pies, Christian Jay comes to Idle Hands for his debut solo 12". As revealed in our past support of artists such as I.A. Bericochea and Matt Karmil, an appreciation of the finer end of the minimal house and techno spectrum weighs heavy at Idle Hands HQ, and Christian embodies everything good about the micro-genre.

The stylistic approach on this single is consistent across both tracks, fusing shuffling, 2-step fuelled drum patterns with blissful atmospheric content in a most natural of ways. On "117" this manifests in a more flamboyant end result peppered with playful hi-hat tones and delicate melodic licks, while on "Contrail" the mood is resolutely low-end focused with some choice bass touches in amongst the tightly wound funk of the beat.

What makes Jay's efforts stand out is their immersive finish, using dexterous doses of dub processing to create a quintessentially Bristolian mood while retaining the razor-sharp edges of upfront European minimal. It's a tone that speaks to limbering up at the start of the party, or shaking down deep into the morning. That said, we could listen to this all day and night.