Thresholds

Francis Harris may be better known to many for his lush house productions as part of Frank & Tony; their reverence for, or at least their referentiality towards, an earlier age of house has them sitting alongside similar material by DJ Sprinkles and Will Long (both of whom they’ve worked with). On Thresholds, Harris removes the beats – mostly – and settles his usually gorgeous texturology in an ambient bed. It’s not becalmed, though, like a lot of ambient; there’s a weird tension at play here, and certain a disturbed melancholy. It is most compelling when it veers closer to song form, thanks to the guest piano and vocals of Eliana Glass, but even the more abstract pieces have plenty to offer – alternately ravishing and benumbed, they layer glistening, slo-mo non-melodies and patterns over fog-line drones that slowly buffer each other.