Welcome to Anthony Naples first outing for Running Back. Swerve sees the New York resident putting his dancing shoes back on and taking a pause from his admittedly brilliant other side. A development that last year’s Club Pez on ANS already foreshadowed. While his music is at times ethereal and cerebral, but also engaging and compelling, Naples manages to fill the gap between finesse and function with idiosyncratic abilities.
Starting with the title track that builds a bridge between a beehive and Joey Beltram’s hoover sound, it’s clear that Naples has something unique in case of temperature and tempo. Swerve flows around an addictive bass line, adds a splash of piano and manages to feel big without the usual cheap tricks. Played by Four Tet and Pete Tong. If bangers-not-bangers would be a genre, Naples would have created one of its prime examples.
The rest follows lead: Here With You uses skippy beats underneath a TB-303, Right As The Sun Goes extracts elements of its two predecessors, but mirrors them with delightful mellowness and finally, Be To feels like the continuation of the sprawling hypnotism of the mid-nineties.
One EP to get your swerve on. High quality artwork by Gasius.[info sheet from distr.]