Artist: Spooky
Title: Candy
Label: Spooky
By: Simon Jones | 22 October 2008
Tracklist:

• A: Original Mix
• B: James Zabiela Mix

Spooky "Candy"

2007's album 'Open' was a welcome return from the collaborative duo of Charlie May and Duncan Forbes' Spooky project, which had been on somewhat of a hiatus for a considerable amount of time. Since then they've been extensively touring and contributing to many of Sasha's ongoing projects including the recently released 'Invol2ver' compilation. Never ones to rest on their laurels, they now present the latest release on their own self titled imprint, pushing forward with new club single entitled 'Candy'

The original version first emerged on one of James Zabiela's '4' DJ mixes and has also been a staple of Spooky's live and DJ sets over the course of the last few months, an electronic house track, driven by a subtle bassline and layered percussion. Linear melodies and effects are used to great effect and the overall production quality is to the usual standard you would expect from messieurs Forbes and May. All in all a reasonable offering but falling just short of the standard set by some of the duo's previous work.

Being a fan of the original meant it was a no brainer when James Zabiela was approached to provide the reinterpretation. Over the course of eight plus minutes, Zabiela takes all the main elements, emphasising the organic mood of the original and creates a mix that traverses the path between darkness and delight with relative ease, fusing elements from a number of genres including tech house and down-tempo into one masterful sound scape that highlights the ongoing progression and increasing depth in his work.

'Candy' sees Spooky progress down the more club orientated route once more, passing a nod to the old production values on their earlier material whilst making it relevant to the current sound of now. While it seems to lack a certain tangible element or two, fans of May and Forbes will be most pleased.