Although the label is best known for its association with John Talabot, Catalonian imprint Hivern Discs has championed a variety of lesser-known artists, of which New Jackson is one. Sat Around Here Waiting is the Dublin producer’s follow-up to 2011’s The Night Mail, released by Bodytonic’s impressive POGO imprint. Listening back to that EP, it’s obvious what the Hivern camp heard in the music. David Kitt makes bassline-driven disco-house colored by Rephlex-style synth plaintiveness and a smudged, cosmic-pop sensibility. It’s a perfect fit for the label, which thrives on stewing these sorts of elements.

The title track is a convivial grower, led by a mystical, squiggly melody and a blurry, vocoded chant. Atop filtered-down tin percussion, the duo expertly nudges each part until its hooks are absolutely embedded. As a modern, more propulsive, and slightly less cheesy adaptation of Afro and cosmic sounds, it’s incredibly infectious. Fort Romeau and Pional acknowledge the original’s potency in their remixes, none of which are complete overhauls. Fort Romeau’s soaring house version adds bongos, jangly keys, and a more vigorous bassline, but the remaining melody and vocal keep it mostly inextricable from the original. Meanwhile, Pional contributes two similar remixes. The first ramps up the bassline and adds darting stabs, but again, elements of the original impose themselves, keeping it from transforming too much. The second, which only appears on the digital release, fares better. It comes across like a jacking dub version—those prominent original elements are abridged a bit, and come across as less anthemic in the presence of tweaky stab patterns, crafty percussion, and a flexible bassline. Finally, the digital release offers another New Jackson original in the form of “Below The Bridge.” The track is essentially a slow-motion disco groover, laced with a creeping bassline, sputtering arpeggios, and a sample intoning, “I’m hot for you.” Although it mines much sleazier territory than “Sat Around Here Waiting,” it too showcases the producer’s underlying strength for atmospheric, hook-laden pieces.