- Vancouver's Sophie Sweetland (AKA D. Tiffany) sits on the edge of her city's stylistic spectrum, applying the dazed approach of her peers to a sound that resembles techno more often than house. But when I saw her play a live set in LA this past February, a good chunk of what she dropped sounded more like jungle, full of lashing drum breaks and bouncy patterns. She now puts that into context with her first release as DJ Zozi, a return to 1080p that sees her working with jungle and drum & bass samples. If Lee Gamble's Diversions 1994-1996 scooped out the ambient innards of jungle tracks, then Mellow Vibe is a patchwork made with the percussive leftovers.
The title track kicks things off with the most straightforward jungle moment, but as the title "Mellow Vibe" implies, it's fairly relaxed. The breaks flow slow and easy, and the chords are syrupy thick—think a half-lidded version of Florist's "Marine Drive" from last year. The drums on "Up Up (Slammin' Vers)" have a curiously stationary feel, like a swimmer treading water, while the big, fuzzy pads drive it through alternately melancholic and upbeat passages. The stiff "Snow Globe" is the odd one out, built more like filter house with its short clips of piano and disco guitar. Some funk comes from the way Sweetland pulls different drum tracks in and out.
Highlight "Zozi Theme" looks further back, to early techno and hardcore, a spacey rush of sweeping synthesizers and brittle breaks. With its radio chatter, bumping low-end and sci-fi feel, it's a facsimile for sure, but a welcome one delivered with easygoing confidence.
TracklistA1 Mellow Vibe
A2 Up Up (Slammin' Vers)
B1 Snow Globe
B2 Zozi Theme