Reviews Search

Pedro

Mush'srecent reissue of Pedro's debut album brings the UK producer's subtle blendof downtempo beats and minimalist pop melodies to a stateside audience.If the album's nine tracks of superbly produced mood music aren'tenticing enough, Mush has been kind enough to throw in the "Fear andResilience" remix single for good measure.

Mush

I wrote about Pedro's single from Melodic (here) and I'm glad that the full length is finally available from Mush asPedro's sound is one I can always use in a bigger dose. It's a goodthing too that the single is included here as a second disc becausewith a nine track album where two tracks are taken up by a prettyunnecessary "Intro" and "Outro," the record would have felt a littlethin on its own. Luckily, it seems short because the music sandwichedbetween the opening and closing tracks is so good that I just wantedmore of it.

"Fear and Resilience" remains the strongest track with its adventurousmix of tones and styles that should work in harmony but require anexpert approach to composition to avoid feeling hacked together. Therest of the album doesn't play with quite as broad a sonic range, butwhat it lacks in bombast it makes up for in nuance. The tracks blendperfectly together too, creating a seamless long-player experience thatjust needs to be a little... longer. Whether Pedro is using simple,repeating piano figures or percolating electro beats, the songs allhave a kind of warm emotional resonance. This is the perfect kind ofrecord for Mush, a label that's released some of the best and warmestdowntempo instrumental records in the last few years. With theprevious single and now this album, Pedro's definitely roped me in. Now he just needs to get to recording something new.

samples: