Few dance artists have found the sweet spot between EDM's good-time blare and underground dance's cooler sonic pathways quite the way Rustie has. The Glasgow DJ-producer born Russell Whyte has spent close to a decade turning heads, from his wiggy deconstruction of Zomby's "Spliff Dub" in 2009 to spinning a BBC Essential Mix that introduced the world to Baauer's "Harlem Shake" a year before its 2013 ascent to Number One. But he's best known for albums – 2011's Glass Swords and last year's Green Language – that refract a short lifetime of listening to electronic club music into chewy, prismatically layered tunes.
Rustie's approach doesn't change a whit on EVENIFUDONTBELIEVE, nor should it, particularly. The biggest surprise here is that it was released last week without warning. The second-biggest is that his maximalist ethos still holds up beautifully: The builds are huge, and heavy on detail. It helps that he's as generous with hooks as with atmosphere. "Atlantean Airship" has the deep drops of a big-stage bass anthem and is equally lush and headphone-ready; "Big Catzz" is like Skrillex for candy-flippers. Whether he's turning gurgled samples and speedy beats into heartfelt audio glitter on "What U Mean" or tweaking the filters of "Your Goddezz" till they get giddy, Rustie seems to lose himself in these tunes as much as he wants you to.
