Avalon Emerson is pretty cool. Whether it’s her consistently progressive production, slamming festival sets, her recent wonderful, non-dancefloor oriented RA Live mix or the fact that she looks straight off the set of Stranger Things, she has been the perennially ‘up and coming’ DJ/producer consistently getting things very right. Unsurprisingly, her most recent release for Whities, ‘One More Fluorescent Rush/Finally Some Common Ground’ is no different. It’s always reassuring when a producer seems to be moving in a specifically forward direction. Indeed, over seven physical releases Emerson seems to have traversed the influences of house, tech-house, techno and electro to arrive at this unique most recent endeavour.
Gender has become smartly-avoided shaky ground when it comes to talking about electronic music. Ignoring this, Emerson undoubtedly exemplifies the kind of refreshing uniquity that’s almost always present in women in techno- seen in the unusual and harmonious marriage of light and dark in her production. As we’ve recently and all too often discovered, anyone can buy ten tight black t-shirts, get a short back and sides and make a living spending their summers in Ibiza... well not quite anyone.
Emerson’s two A sides for Whities are a good example of what sets her apart. 2016’s 'Frontier' is all rumbling kick drums, charging basslines and arid clicks and beeps, accompanied by a striking, euphoric melody. It works perfectly, and is not unlike ‘One More Fluorescent Rush’, which features slightly lighter percussion and a more complex incessant, driving bleep based melody. The B-side ‘Finally Some Common Ground’, is low key and offbeat, less immediately ear-catching, but a rolling peaktime powerhouse nonetheless and indistinguishable in quality from its counterpart.
Emerson is creating her own space in the well worn world of techno and her latest release completely encapsulates this. Out in it’s entirety on Friday with some excellent artwork, for now, the A-side can be streamed on YouTube and Bandcamp accompanied by an unreal, fittingly Blade-Runneresque video. Carefully considered and not one to miss.
4.5/5
Words by Hugo B