[100% Silk]

Ital is the newest project from Daniel Martin-McCormick, perhaps best known for heading noise acts like Black Eyes and Mi Ami. Last year, Martin-McCormick released two records under the name Sex Worker for the Not Not Fun label, which amalgamated outsider house, smoldering dub, and drone-pop. These efforts maximized the electronic flirtations heard on his bands’ records, reapplying a gritty, sometimes jarring approach to his own surreal, homemade dance music. Ital’s Theme, the first release for Not Not Fun’s 100% Silk sub-label, is a continuation of this ideal.

Martin-McCormick loops a rudimentary, acidic melody for the majority of the title track. It’s an interesting experiment in excess; he essentially steals the bubbliest moment in a freestyle track and repeats it until its hook has entirely dissolved. It’s gnarled and obtrusive, only briefly breaking down to allow the undergrowth of hi-hats, claps, and arpeggiated tones to pan back and forth. “Queens,” meanwhile, is restrained and slinky, pairing disembodied disco percussion with a feverish synth line. It’s fairly unsettling hearing these ordinarily perky tropical drums wander through such dismal zones, sounding like they’ve gotten lost on the way to the party. The EP concludes with the expansive, droning house piece “One Hit,” the package’s pinnacle. Driven by a dizzy synth pattern and chugging hi-hats, the track is kosmische house in the vein of Four Tet’s Ringer EP. As with the other tracks, Martin-McCormick quickly locks into a searching groove, eschewing traditional hooks and breakdowns in favor of an unsteady, pitch-shifting tone that dictates its mesmerizing flow. Ital’s Theme may not offer dance floor perfection, but it consistently provides fresh reconstructions of threadbare motifs. 100% Silk couldn’t have asked for a better merger of dance music and the Not Not Fun aesthetic.