[Ghostly International]

Given that Jeff McIlwain aka Lusine has studied sound design for music and film it’s no surprise his productions are filled with a deeper than usual sense of atmosphere. Counting film scores among his recent projects also explains why we haven’t heard much from the Texan for the past few years. “Two Dots” is, in fact, his first proper release since 2006’s “Emerald EP,” and it finds McIlwain refreshed from his film score sabbatical. A significantly more pop-based affair than the majority of his previous output, “Two Dots” is released ahead of the forthcoming A Certain Distance album, and features the sprightly, lilting vocals of Finnish songstress Vilja Larjosto. The original mix brings forth a flood of memories centered around the organic/digital house sound of early Perlon releases; melancholic tones underpinned by an impossibly feel-good, slightly nonsensical vocal with smart, well placed melodies.

The Pezzner remake draws out the vocals, re-samples them and builds them around a largely beatless structure and slight, pizzicato string stabs. When the kicks do drop in around the half way mark they are more out of a sense of kinetic fulfillment, helping along the druggy, occasional bass line and elongated vocal reverberations. Lusine revisits the blueprint himself with his Reverse Engineered mix, which places a distinct house groove into the track for those of a straight forward, floor based persuasion. It maintains a sense of the mournful melodies inhabiting the original, but elongates the club potential via a deep, well realized bass line melody and more immediate, upfront percussion, while relegating the vocal to the background. As he prepares to release his full length album, “Two Dots” sees Lusine in an engaging, playful mood, exhibiting all the depth and precision of his previous work while branching out in to newer pop based fields.