Details, rather than innovation, matter to dub-house duo Swayzak. James Taylor and David Brown have long garnered 'nuff respec' from tech-house trainspotters, but not for introducing the world to the analog "cuzzah-cuzzah chzam" sound or updating the Belgian Hoover preset. No, Swayzak, rather like Orbital, have striven to express their deeply chunky selves within strict limits by sticking to their unique sound palettes.
Swayzak's debut album, Snowboarding in Argentina, abounded in polished tubes of dubbed delights and attracted envious attention from Plastikman Richie Hawtin's M_Nus label. M_nus' Dale Lawrence, under his Theorem guise, then initiated a sample-trading dialog which has resulted in some swoonsome, small-room techno 12-inches. So Swayzak know how to wow their peers, but what about us, the discerning public?
Himawari is, to be fair, a valiant attempt to grab some mass appeal. But I'm afraid that if they're hoping to grab some Madonna remix action, this album isn't going to persuade the execs at Maverick. While the tracks here are recognizably Swayzak's own, the duo have, in places, diluted their chrome-plated, Chain Reaction sound so that those who haven't had the unquestionable pleasure of shagging to Snowboarding in Argentina can catch up with their grooves. And therein lies the problem.
The impressive thing about Swayzak's debut album was the manifest care and attention they funneled into every painstaking detail. That they hadn't propelled the genre to new heights didn't matter-- they perfectly adapted what others had left behind in their rush for the next farthest horizon. Himawari, however, suffers from sometimes straying from this admittedly restrictive focus.
After dub-poet Benjamin Zephaniah has exhorted us to slightly criminal acts on "Illegal" (the most Jah-inspired track on Himawari), Kirsty Hawkshaw, likely out of work since her days with Opus III, lends her thin vocal talents to "State of Grace". Before listening to this disc, I was intrigued at the prospect of a Swayzak vocal track. How would Taylor and Brown subtly graft a voice onto their alloyed techno? "State of Grace" could have been a rare moment of true experimentation for them. But they chickened out and made the song into a passable Visage pastiche, complete with a verse sung-spoken in some dissolute European language. "The Frozen Loch" is Swayzak's bid for some Groove Armada chill, but a Scottish lad's poem set to drifting beats isn't going to get too many Salinas beach babes dancing horizontally.
Swayzak have apparently recognized the critical success of Circulation and Peace Division, and contribute "Caught in This Affair" to the house/techno interface. Driven by a melting rhythm track and topped off with the title's vocal sample, the band has a low-key chance of being used as cross-fader fodder. The track sounds awkward, and the careful confidence that made me pay close attention to Snowboarding in Argentina and their Blufarm 12" is noticeably absent here.
But for every fumbled attempt at crossover, Himawari provides a true thrill. "Mysterons" is entirely unencumbered by its blatantly techno title and scoops up contention for the jackiest, rim-shot marathon of acid techno I've had the delight to hear this year. "Pineapple Spongecake" (I guess we should be grateful that they didn't have Ho-Ho's lying around on the mixing board that afternoon) harkens back to the Snowboarding in Argentina sessions and preserves the band's techno-purist appeal. "Betek", Himawari's final and finest track, reprises Zephaniah's words from the opener. It stands as a true floor-buckling classic, relentlessly building like Underworld's DJ staple "Born Slippy".
Swayzak, so much more than many other techno acts, deserve huge success. Taylor and Brown are conscientious and hard-working-- qualities rare in these bandwagoneering churn-'em-out times-- and all of these tracks have a manifest beauty to them. Yet, I find it hard to recommend the present release unreservedly because of the apparent compromises they've made to their previously exemplary sound.
