Washington, D.C.-raised, Toronto-based Pursuit Grooves (Vanese Smith) is a producer whose work sidesteps adherence to tempo or genre design. This makes each release more and more thrilling. Out now is a new EP, Leaping Desire, which follows September's 91 Fellows. Where the latter recording, an eight-track album, felt warmer and more hip-hop indebted, Leaping Desire traces house and broken beat. Linking the two projects is Pursuit Grooves' use of fragmented, poetic vocals (similar to British producer Cooly G) and a ceaseless emphasis on the thudding heartbeat within each composition.
What's interesting about Leaping Desire is that it's partially a collaboration project with Toronto's SlowPitch, who Smith met years ago on MySpace.
"We worked on a project called GuSHee and have stayed in touch ever since," Smith explains. "He's able to transcribe a unique approach to turntablism to his production and create these amazing sounds. And his mixing abilities are superior to mine as he analyzes little moments and has these ideas to add layers that I may not have thought of, which add so much to the sonic texture of the piece." SlowPitch also designed the EP's cover art.
Smith hopes to tour Emoralis, a collaborative AV project, with SlowPitch next year.
You can stream a teaser of Leaping Desire below, and buy the album on Bandcamp.
Leaping Desire EP (TEASER) by Pursuit Grooves
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