Jim Rivers’ “Restore EP” is the latest release from Satoshi Tomiie’s Saw Recordings, and it’s been well worth the wait. Restore first featured on Tomiie’s “Renaissance 3D” mix compilation, and has been hot property ever since, so it’s great to see it finally get a release. The EP features two fantastic melodic, techy progressive house cuts, “Restore” and “Future”.

“Restore” is a fantastic warm, uplifting, melodic track that will work equally as well in a tech, progressive or even minimal set. In typical Saw Recordings fashion, this track is all about creating a groove and working around that, rather than obvious, in your face noise and big build ups and break downs. Combining a deep, wobbly bassline with reverbed, off beat synth stabs, long, sweeping synth washes and minimal-esque percussion and beats, Rivers creates a track that truly crosses boundaries. Starting off with a deceptively simple kick and some slightly off beat percussion, the bassline quickly gets added to the mix, and then soon after comes a soft, echoed, appregiated synth which is backed by a long, sweeping synth wash that gradually builds in intensity, before the track drops in to a breakdown in which the wash changes its key progression, before the kick and the bassline come thumping back in, completing the uplifting, melodic groove which from here on in acts as the basis of the track. From here it’s all about twisting up what elements already exist in the track in multiple brain melting ways, strengthening and weakening the bassline at different parts of the track, and changing the key of the main synth pad. Without a doubt the highlight comes when the synth pad is at its strongest, and the bassline has been turned in to a massive, resonating wall of noise, which I personally can’t wait to hear out on a big system. This is easily the best progressive track this year.

“Future” has a lot to live up to when “Restore” is that damn good, but it easily matches its A-Side counterpart. Although it’s little less trance-influenced and a little more groovy than “Restore”, “Future” does however feature the same crisp production, subtle sensibility and a focus on creating a working with a consistent groove rather than relying on big builds ups and break downs. This one is a little more DJ friendly, starting with a nice long intro before bringing in a stabby electro-house styled bassline, which is quickly filtered out and replaced by a deep, wobbly bassline which perfectly accompanies the punchy kick, crunchy claps and hi hats, the bouncy synth stabs and the funky atmospherics that just add that extra element of class to the tune. From here on in, it’s all about the bassline though. Rivers slowly makes it build and build and build until it turns in to a massive, resonated monster, before dropping it right back down to its quiet little appregiated loop, and then again building back up again. The track continues to follow this format, ebbing and flowing, but doing so in a subtle way, making you sometimes stop and think “when did that happen?” as you stop and notice something that wasn’t there a minute ago. It’s hard to make progression like that work without getting monotonous, but “Future” exemplifies what it sounds like it when does. If “Restore” wasn’t the best progressive track this year, this would be. Number two goes to “Future”.

I strongly urge anyone with a love for progressive, tech, or even minimal to purchase this release. It may not fit neatly in to any of these genres, but fans of these sounds will no doubt absolutely love it. I know I do.