[Environ]

Morgan Geist likes to take his time, so it’s unsurprising that he and his subway-platform discovery Damon C. Scott have taken a full year to follow up Look Right Through, their debut 12″ as Storm Queen. Beyond taking his time on the release front, Geist is also a master of measured tension in his production, and this restraint is palpable on It Goes On.

I honestly wasn’t paying much attention the first time I listened to “It Goes On” — I remember checking a minute or so in because I forgot what I was listening to (the perils of not using physical records), maybe a little surprised at how slight it sounded. The track begins with a very basic classic house template, mostly bass, kick drums, and Scott’s voice, and as he repeats “day after day after day” above that minimal arrangement, you get a strong sense of his emotional drudgery. It’s a perfectly discreet foil for the jolt that occurs midway through, when he suddenly breaks out of the monotony with the chorus. It begins with the exclamation “what am I doing with my life?!” (does a more urgent sentiment exist?) as Geist adds a sleek, impassioned melody underneath. With this dynamic established, the pair spend the remainder adding and subtracting bits, leading up to a second and final refrain of the chorus that’s just as effective as the first. The 12″ also includes a dub, which sets the track on a more linear, atmospheric course. Scott’s vocal is removed apart from a few phrases, and in turn much of the original’s tension is diffused. But it does its job, a solid alternative for those who like Geist’s svelte programming but would rather not ride the impassioned rollercoaster of the original. Simply put, Storm Queen are now two for two.