- Mau'lin and My Panda Shall Fly are each long-standing lesser-knowns of London's dance underground. Both have had their moments but are yet to find a place they can truly call their own. Fortunately, this collaboration brings out the better sides of both. Partly that's because it explores a sound hardly familiar to either aritst. Mau'lin was last seen making steely bassline-led techno for Diskotopia; My Panda Shall Fly, lo-fi dalliances on Sonic Router. Here, a range of more unusual ideas are explored, the one unifying factor being the tempo—a sluggish crawl that takes on a meditative air.
"Sea Beast" sounds a little like Andy Stott if you replaced industrial murk with shimmering neoclassical ambience; "Red" is lush futuristic boogie. Both are very nice, if completely different. "I" is the exception that proves the slow-mo rule. Its take on late-night deep house follows more familiar dance floor contours, and does so with finesse. Only "Gingerbread House," a busted slow-house number with flavourless synth frosting, and brief digi exclusive "15 Keys" are a little forgettable. Those and a remix of "15 Keys" by Irish techno polyglots Lakker, whose six-odd minutes of forlorn IDM feel like a needless addendum to an intriguing EP.
TracklistA1 Sea Beast
A2 Red
A3 Gingerbread House
B1 I
B2 15 Keys (Lakker Remix)
B3 15 Keys (Bonus Digital)