A lone trumpet over the crackle of vinyl, lustrous chords falling in underneath. This is how “Sunset“, from Blind Prophet & Hirshi opens up. The track, from the head of South Fork Sound and a member of Brooklyn trio Archie Pelago, respectively, has all the makings of the worst kinds of indulgent yet vacuous coffee-table jazz. The rustle of hi-hats, a dollop of Rhodes, it could go either way, when a shuffling slab of broken beats kick in, underpinning the heartfelt brass with thrilling urgency. The trumpet gets doused in flange, expounding a theme imbued with an aching sense of what might have been and what might yet be. It’s a sumptuous late-summer anthem, its title and artwork too perfect for common sense.
kuxxan SUUM offers a rework that jerks right through you, taking that repeated opening trumpet phrase, harmonising and building layers almost like it’s a live Archie P show. The soca bounce of this track is utterly infectious, a warm gloss of pulsating synths soothing like balm. There’s a vocal version available too, but we’re happiest with the dub to be honest. Things get a bit hectic on Contakt’s take, as the Truancy Volume contributor offers what at first seems like a more straightforward club rework of the original. Three minutes in a persistent bassline cuts through and leads the solitary trumpet line down a dark passage, from sunset to midnight. Swirling, shimmering synths glow like strobe lights, seemingly at odds with but never clashing against an improvised trumpet line that drifts around like a dancer without inhibitions.
It’s a classic setup – one original and two remixes – but the downside of this approach is that we’re left wondering what else might have come from this pairing. Here’s hoping that they’ll drop some more heat as the seasons change, when the dying leaves crunch underfoot and moonlit ponds freeze over. We live in hope.
Stream: Blind Prophet & Hirshi – Sunset EP (South Fork Sound)
Blind Prophet & Hirshi’s Sunset is available now on South Fork Sound.