The last 12 months or so have been a great time to be an opening DJ. As house, techno and even bass music tempos continue to drift downwards — often below 120 in the case of house — warm-up crews have been blessed with a bumper crop of records suited to their task. Don’t Look Down Now, the latest single from Anthony Collins, can be counted among their numbers. Released on Curle Recordings, the track revises the Frenchman’s emotive, organically flavored aesthetic to slot in nicely among early evening sets and comes complete with an equally unhurried remix by man of the moment, Roman Flügel.
“Don’t Look Down Now” feels like it was made to evoke the maximum amount of melancholic emotions without bringing the dance floor to a halt. An ever growing procession of vintage percussion patterns, curious synth leads, strummed and finger-picked guitar parts and docile marimba notes seems unwieldy on paper. Yet as Collins deploys each element their aggregate effect is magnified without becoming overwhelming, even when a Thom Yorke-a-like vocalist occasionally intones the titular line. If that sounds too emo for your tastes, be sure to check Flügel’s upbeat remix. Its steely, syncopated stabs will goad you onto dance floor but the flirty marimba rolls at multiple speeds and depths are what will keep you there. Refreshingly anachronistic in the wake of the ’08-’09 marimba craze, it’s an unusual but entirely functional track that handily outshines its source material. Either way, Don’t Look Down Now is another solid Curle release likely to delight the openers among us.