Release of the Week: Sunareht Sagas
Parisian producer Sunareht has delivered an EP featuring one of the most original takes on club music you’ll hear this year.
If you have been following Backyard Opera’s Mix of the Week series, you might have been intrigued by certain tracks in the mixes from Strict Face and the Le Dom/De Grandi B2B. Both mixes featured tunes with rapid sample chops that created a euphoric build up then never seemed to drop. Turns out they were by Parisian producer Sunareht, real name Sylvain Dessagne, and they feature here on his second EP for Paradoxe Club.
Such is the originality of Dessagne’s style of production, it is difficult to compare it to anything else. At its core it essentially takes the sampling style of French touch and filter house music but removes the drums. The closest contemporary is Lorenzo Senni’s deconstructed trance, but influences from weightless grime and the broader club music scene are also present.
Percussion isn’t completely absent from the release though – Bât. C which is one of the harder tracks features a rough kick drum and filtered Baltimore club style claps, while tactically placed crashes throughout final track Saga make it one of the EP’s highlights.
There’s an added sense of melody compared to Dessagne’s earlier releases and the way each track builds suspense and anticipation could lead to mayhem on dance floors. Yet these are more than mere club tools, there is enough creativity and nuance to keep the home listener interested.
Sagas is a truly accomplished body of work and at four tracks long it is a perfect length as despite its originality, the sound can get repetitive. It is exciting to see how Dessagne tackles the challenge in future releases of maintaining his uniqueness while building on it at the same time.
