(Echo Foxtrot/MGM)

Do you believe in love at first listen? If you’ve been looking for dub in all the wrong places, this disc is for you! I’m talking about the Red Eye’s new five-track EP, ‘Prolific / My Kingdom’. This Melbourne-based, New Zealand-born dub militia of ten have labelled this release as a double A-side single, and they’re not wrong.

Everything a dub-lover could ask for is present on this recording. El Witeri’s vocals cast beautiful melodies like a born-again Marley over tracks rich with swirling percussive organ, piano, rhythm guitar and shuffling beats. The tracks are punctuated by expected doses of delay effects, and some of the most tastefully arranged and recorded brass I’ve heard in a long time. This is deep-rooted authentic island dub, baby.

‘Prolific’ oozes soul with it’s emotive vocal melody, which drops into a darker more gutteral mode, then soars out of it with a lovely piano reprise. The other single ‘My Kingdom’ sounds like a lost classic. Witeri again demands your attention with his rich character-voice and uplifting poetry, while the Hammond organ whirls away in the background, with a gorgeous gospel-esque sound. Horns are scattered by delays, and the organ playfully replies in musical conversation.

‘Fooled Again’ is an important contrast to the previous tracks, showing that the Red Eyes are capable of raising the tempo, and still retaining a deep groove. Samples and scratching punctuate the track, which has a more contemporary sound, with bigger ‘gaps’ and one hot organ solo. I’ve heard that these guys can strut into DnB territory and hold their own, and this track certainly supports the proposition. As you’d expect, the last two dub mixes of the lead tracks expand the grooves with more FX, and a more ambient and psychadelic production treatment.

Musically rich and beautifully produced, my only criticism of this disc is… it’s not long enough! It’s easy to imagine immersing yourself in tracks of this calibre for an hour, and feeling like you’ve spent a week in Jamaica. I can’t wait to hear more of their material when they take the band on the road!