Tim: Ah, what’s brought this out of the woodwork?
Tom: Sigma, drum-and-bass duo responsible for the best Kanye West remix ever (in that it removed Kanye and got to number one). Labrinth, brilliant vocalist and writer. This should be…
Tom: …hmm. Sadly, a bit generic.
Tim: Not a fan, then?
Tom: That introduction — like the quiet middle eight — is wonderful, and promises so much.
Tim: Really? Because I find that part a bit tedious.
Tom: Well, yes, it is a bit too long, and crucially the payoff just isn’t quite worth it. I know drum and bass is ultimately a bit limited: once you start switching things up too much, it slides into being a different genre entirely. There’s a lot you can do in that relatively small sandbox — but there’s just not enough of interest here. The melody isn’t good enough to save this track.
Tim: I don’t know – ‘generic’ it possibly is, but I’d say that chorus with it’s ‘what is love?’ mantra delivers vastly more than what the meandering intro suggests. I really like this track.
Tom: My main problem with it, though: after a couple of repeats, I started hearing “higher, higher” as “hiya, hiya” and wondering how many people he was going to greet before the song was finally over.
Tim: See, I’m now working on chopping that up and setting it as my ringtone.
Tom: It’s better than that endless loop of the One Show theme you had.