For the first record in its Young Turks 2013 series of 12″s, the London label debuts Lost Scripts, the new name for the collaborative efforts of John Talabot and Pional, while offering another look at a track from Koreless‘ record for the label earlier this year.
Lost Scripts’ contribution, “I’ll Be Watching You,” follows closely along the lines of “So Will Be Now…,” the standout track from Talabot’s ƒIN LP and a song we deemed one of last year’s best. Still, “I’ll Be Watching You” does not follow too closely so as to make it sound like a rehashing of the same ideas, but it does manage to capture a similar feel and intoxicating drive. Like most Talabot productions, a bit of patience is required of listeners to fully reap the rewards of the track. Beginning with a simple, percussion-lined shuffle, Pional’s somewhat-mumbled, densely layered vocals lead the song, eventually giving way to a immediately catchy melody constructed from what sounds like an ’80s organ patch played in a higher octave. Like “So Will Be Now…,” it is the bassline that really holds “I’ll Be Watching You” together, its slow crawl filling out the low-end spectrum with a line that is just as easy to hum along to as any of the track’s other elements. Still, Talabot and Pional have not even hit their full stride until just before the four-minute mark, where—following a luscious synth breakdown—”I’ll Be Watching You” adds a welcome helping of rhythmic rush to its proceedings. Again, Talabot and Pional have managed to make something that checks all the boxes required of a memorable pop song and a respectable club track in one fell swoop.
On the flipside, Young Turks has elected to include Koreless’ “Sun,” a song from the producer’s Yugen EP that dropped earlier this year. The particularly dramatic effort pits an array of percussive chord stabs against an ever-expanding backdrop of blissful chords and engulfing ambiences, and, four months after its release, still serves as a powerful piece of audio. Still, it’s presence is a somewhat awkward pairing with “I’ll Be Watching You,” and—due to the strength of its a-side counterpart—never really had a chance of bringing a whole lot more to the table on this particular release.
