- More than most labels, Giegling is a family affair. It was originally inspired by a short-lived club of the same name in Weimar, Germany and in the years since then has taken on very few artists from beyond its original crew. Gilles Aiken, the Berlin producer better known as Edward, is one of those artists. Formerly a staple of the label WHITE, he's now one of Giegling's key producers, thanks to a string of records that both embody and expand on the label's introspective sound. His LP from last year, Into A Better Future, was a surreal tapestry of kosmische, ambient and leftfield house. His latest 12-inch, Birds, shows this eccentric sound further taking shape.
Aiken's music is informed by a rich pool of psychedelic influences—something we know from his RA podcast, but that you could guess from listening to this EP. Part shoegaze, part Perlon-style microhouse, the record is hazy and bittersweet as a half-remembered dream. Its title track's billowing percussion has an aptly avian sense of motion: coasting, fluttering, weaving. Though it follows a steady groove, it feels like an unpredictable swarm of sounds, especially in its beatless and chaotic closing section (for my money, the best part of the record).
The other tracks are a bit housier. "Open" rides a bright, childlike melody that feels of a piece with the image on the record's cover (that sun, by the way, is hand-painted on every copy). "Do It" is a shimmering mass of drum patterns and trippy loops, and quite groovy despite having no kick drum. At face value, "She Says" is by-the-books deep house, but as with the rest of this record, the richness of its textures and the depth of its emotion make it something much more than that.
TracklistA1 Open
A2 Birds
B1 Do It
B2 She Says