[Dolly]

I’m not sure who Tyrez is. He might be a newcomer, he might be an established name operating under a new guise, and this moniker might (hopefully) derive from Tyres, everyone’s favorite raver from Spaced. What little information I can find says that he is from Chicago, something that could probably have been discerned from the sounds etched on The Breath of Desire, Dolly’s fourth release. While previous releases on Steffi’s label from Jacob Korn and Dexter have seen plenty of support from DJs, The Breath of Desire‘s pared-down ingredients make for another standout release.

The title cut kicks off with the fast-paced rumble of an acidic bass line and sparse drum programming, soon followed by sustain organ chords, piano leads, and a string-led swell of emotion. There aren’t too many elements here, but the subtle way Tyrez arranges them they work wonders. On the flip, “Technical Love” has a bit more funk but sticks close to the comparably droning sounds used on A1. All of the tracks here maintain the same palette, but the real gem is “Functional Love,” where the melodies are just a bit stronger and the arrangements a bit more refined. There’s a natural, human feeling to these tracks, most likely due to the gear they were and were not created with — the apparent lack of a sequencer is particularly noticeable. The fetishization of analog equipment and vintage production methods may have become exasperating to some, but The Breath of Desire makes a strong case for these techniques’ continued importance.