Artist: Sasha
Title: Coma
Label: emFire Music
By: Andrew Rowland | 12 November 2007
Tracklist:

• A: Original Mix

Sasha "Coma"

Sasha’s back and it’s a long overdue return for his first new music production to be released in his name since 2002’s full-length album ‘Airdrawndagger’. Sasha openly admits to not being the most prolific of producers but his music always has a timeless quality. Recent plays of ‘Airdrawndagger’ and his ‘Xpander E.P.’ are testament to this, sounding as impressive now as the day of their conception.

‘Coma’ is the first of three individual Sasha tracks from his now established production collective of Spooky’s Charlie May and Duncan Forbes alongside Barry Jamieson of the legendary defunct Evolution duo. The releases are to be timed consecutively over a three-month period starting this November. ‘Park It In The Shade’ and ‘Sparky’ will follow.

‘Coma’ will also herald the dawn of Sasha’s new label Emfire debuting some ten years after his previous Excession imprint. Emfire will primarily be an exclusive outlet for Sasha’s own material alongside releases from other artists that excite him. Excession was unfortunately a somewhat short-lived affair and reflected Sasha’s more eclectic side. It is best remembered for two William Orbit releases Invisible ‘Scream’ and a remix of Morgan King ‘I’m Free’. These are very much classic’s of the day and I would fully recommend anyone even remotely curious to seek these out.

The immediate impression on first play is that ‘Coma’ marries Sasha’s emotive signature sound with today’s minimal grooves. This producing something that is reflective of his current DJ sound. Its foundation consists of a sparse 808-kick drum, syncopated percussion and a simple sub bass line. The theme of the piece, a heavily modulated synth pad chord progression sweeps in and out of the track giving a cinematic ethereal sounding quality. Ever-present dark FX bubble away throughout along with spacey echo effects evoking memories of his seminal track ‘Belfunk’. A beautiful arpeggiated string melody is introduced four minutes into the track and is perfectly harmonised to the pad progression. Together these cleverly take the track through to an amazing crescendo after which all the elements gently fade away to the close.

‘Coma’ is Sasha at his haunting best, a majestic return and a landmark first release for Emfire. Of special interest to many will be that all tracks are to be released on one- sided laser etched vinyl. Specially commissioned art designers Insect, best known for their work with Guerrilla artist Banksy, providing packaging in a contemporary style. This in itself will make for a very unique and highly collectable series for many years to come.