Lost In Brooklyn/ Norm Talley Rmx

Thema’s latest 12” welcomes back an esteemed and prolific deep house artist, Christopher Rau, with another fellow member of the Thema extended family, Detroit’s Norm Talley, on remix duties. Choosing to go only by his surname, Rau crafts a sexy, undulating track entitled “Lost In Brooklyn” that marks his second release on the label from the same Big Apple borough. Thema is known for its quality take on dance music, marked by decades of experience and careful listening, this release is of the same elevated calibre that we’ve come to expect from the internationally renowned label. It’s layered, complex, and completely essential! A syncopated pattern of stabbed chords remains the benchmark of the track, anchoring a groove that initially builds using off-kilter, intentionally grating background noise. As resonators get turned up and tensions mount, the moment when the funky, hi-hat led percussion finally arrives around the 2:20 mark is met with the kind of exuberant release that dancefloor-heaven is rooted in. “Lost In Brooklyn” continues to ebb and flow throughout its remainder, with peaks and troughs that power through until the end and renders it more than a bit of DJ weapon. Besides Rau, Norm Talley is also back on Thema and with a kind of focused fury that only he can sustain. He infuses Rau’s upbeat production with his Motor City hypnotic soul and reworks it for a deeper, later hour. The motif that makes up the A-side is eschewed in favor of subdued pads, skittering cosmic washes drenched in delay, and driving drums that straddle the line between house and techno. The contrast between each side of this vinyl plays off the other nicely, but they both retain the sophisticated charisma that ties everything on Thema together.[was]