One Eye Witness serves up a collection of spacey, subtle dancefloor wares on WITNESS09. Here on its ninth edition, the Amsterdam label enlists three scene mainstays to patch into the WITNESS matrix. With their respective back catalogs highly sought after, this EP is a freshly-wrought showcase of tried and tested club craftsmanship.

Founder of Evasive records, Rob Pearson has been turning out tech house since the turn of the millennium. A1 “The Tempest” sees him enter a rapturous hypnotic portal. Its tight beat provides a framework for off-kilter aural delights: eerie melodies and buried phrases captivate, with whispered vocals — courtesy of Jayson Walker — diffusing into a curtain of modulated mists.

Silverlining, another UK tech house stalwart, follows with a deeper cut. Thirty years having passed since his debut, B1 “A Political Act” shows the artist has not lost his touch for building a breezy, groove-led aesthetic. Detroit’s spirit permeates: dub chords and astral tones are underpinned by a deeply funky bassline and swung rhythm.

Following the effervescent sound of his Perfect Encounter EP on O.E.W. sister label Spectral Bounce, Chris Carrier’s contribution to WITNESS09 is a similarly pulsating creation. “The Drop” is a pacier and denser counterweight to the preceding tracks, with the familiar twisting extraterrestrial sonics that we’ve come to expect from the French DJ and producer.

Art by Susanne Janssen
Words by Cameron Leaf