Artist: Casselle & Christopher
Title: Midnight Sun
Label: Fuju Recordings
By: Simon Jones | 19 November 2002
Tracklist:

• A: Vox Edit
• B: Parts 1 & 2

Casselle & Christopher "Midnight Sun"

Casselle and Christopher are no strangers to the music scene, the Casselle being Ashley (globe trotting DJ), and the Christopher being James (Stalker, Southern Comforter). Together as Ashtrax, the duo are known for tracks including 'Helsinki', 'Kafka' and the recent 'Digital Reason'. However Casselle and Christopher is where they get to embark on a more housier direction, showing there is more to them than twisted progressive and breakbeat specialism, and 'Midnight Sun' is their debut release on this project, featuring the vocals of Tyrone 'Visionary' Palmer who a few of you will remember from that rather classic Slam track, 'Lifetimes'.

Some deep drums and atmospheric strings lead us into the 'Vox Edit', a moody intro dropping into a rolling house groove to set the template. Rising and falling synth arrangements wash over the hypnotic bassline as Tyrone Palmer's vox echo from within at each moment of respite, as an eerie soundscape mutates in the underpinned bass, shifting forward, changing shape as it engulfs the vocal in an almost alien manner that adds some depth to the track.

'Parts 1 and 2' stick to a similar template, extending the mix with a siniter edged intro that quickly descends into a qurky spacial house groove, just building a small energy before dropping into the main section of the track seamlessly. The vocal is kept to a minimum as the groove is worked down to nothing, then kicked back in signalling the loading of Part 2, like a computer sequence intiating a secondary instruction which takes us on a more chord driven journey as the synths just drift mystically through the centre of the track and will fill any void as the sounds just multiply beautifully. Deep and delightful.

Casselle and Christopher craft a double helping of great house mixes here, and with a remix package seeing a mix from none other than John Ciafone, you can be sure by placing this or that disc in your box, you'll be getting more than your money's worth.