Floorplan

PARADISE (M-Plan)

16/20

Swapping the machinistic, mesmeric minimal of his own name (including last year’s sublime Motor: Nighttime World 3) for churning, choppy Chicago-inflected house, Robert Hood’s Floorplan alias is an exercise in the joy of repetition. The scene’s set with opener Let’s Ride – stiff, unswinging snares clatter over a heartbeat 4/4 and a vocal snatch pips up over and over at the same unquavering pitch. Rarely deviating from this template, sidestepping occasionally to throw in the odd anthemic classic piano chord sequence (Confess) or gorgeously chunky, Kompakty synth stabs that come on like Wolfgang Voigt on steroids (Altered Ego), there’s a feeling of unity and dedication to an idea. Yet the highlight comes in the form of the only outlier. Never Grow Old – as heard on Ben Klock’s Fabric66 – is a yearning number that drops its huge vocal sample with such precision that you really don’t want it to end. Even if nothing quite matches the majesterial invocation of We Magnify His Name from 2011’s Sanctified EP, Paradise is a wonderful collection of the kind of tracky house that doesn’t normally work satisfactorily in the context of an album; Hood’s obvious understanding of the genre shines through.

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Words: Josh Baines