First there was a panic, then there shined a light back into the eyes of the beholder. “Mountain Divide”, the recent single from electronic duo Lakker shows a curious fascination for the tenuous line between euphoria and suffocation that one might straddle while standing in the middle of the dance floor just as a brew of stimulants races to find the end of each artery.
Over the course of eight minutes, 909 kicks pulse at the rate of an ascending heartbeat in distress under washes of noise and synthesizers covered by soot and grime, eventually ripping through the shoot of tunnel that has not seen the sun for days, landing in the heart of a glowing city skyline at the hour when most people are just waking up for work. Yet below all the melting sine waves, resound a distant choir singing at an octave only ghosts could reach—suggesting there is a sliver of humanity to be found in the duo’s wasteland, making “Mountain Divide” emblematic of Lakker’s record label, R&S, the Belgian imprint who put out James Blake and Lone. The duo may hail from Dublin in 2014, but their grooves imply UK circa 1992.
“Mountain Divide” is the the A-Side to Lakker’s 12” out October 13.
