When given the opportunity to craft their first solo full-length, some electronic producers veer from the sounds and the scenes that first made them popular. Consider Maya Jane Coles, who first rose in the electronic scene making deep house. Her 2013 solo debut effort, Comfort, retreated from standard, four-on-the-floor, bringing in moody, rousing elements of trip hop and dubstep. George Fitzgerald made a similar departure with his debut Fading Love earlier this year, foregoing the instant likability of early singles "I Can Tell (By the Way You Move)," or the addictive depths of "Magnetic" for a more smoothed-over mood.
Cooly G (born Merrisa Campbell) seems to have fallen into this impulse as a delayed reaction. Her first two solo albums, the beautiful, righteous Playin' Me and the eerie and sensual Wait 'Til Night, were singer-songwriter experiments, ones in which Campbell used music as an outlet for and compliment to her sexual reawakening. Blending icy-cold synths with vulnerable lyrics, she speaks profoundly to women within the electronic music scene, evoking the simultaneous terror and power of long nights, either alone or in the comforting arms of a lover. It felt uncomfortable but necessary, the kind of sound you can’t immediately turn away from even if its complicated internal wiring is difficult to comprehend.
That is why it was frustrating to find Campbell pulling back the reins on herself – her openness, that now-signature rawness – while listening to the Armz House EP. This is the club-ready Cooly G of old. She told the Quietus recently that she wanted to find a way to work her vocals back into her club sets, and her solutions seems to treat them like another tool, mechanically inserted into the mix rather than front and center. Most times, her voice is barely perceptible: Her whispery coos appear for only a handful of seconds on "Tippin B" before they are overwhelmed by her pointed use of synths and drums.
Most of the time, this restraint pays off. The addictive tension of album closer "Horrors in the Dance" sounds like the pushing and tearing of strong muscles. Both Playin' Me and Wait Til Night were the sort of records one sits with alone rather than dances to, but Armz House, from its first few seconds, aims hard at dancing crowds while keeping the sensuality of her previous records. "Booboo" is a cheeky and energetic club banger featuring at least three vocal samples, echoing the energy and nimbleness of "Horrors in the Dance". If you arrive at Armz House expecting a journal of her emotions, you will be disappointed, but Campbell displays a mastery of her form here that's impossible not to admire. She pushes her songs to their limits and then pushes them a bit more, making complicated tracks sound and feel simple. Even if the results aren't as showy or bombastic as her peers, she still manages to ultimately make music that is, while not perfect, very fun. For dance music in 2015, that has become an increasingly rare feat.
