- You probably know Simon Mavin a bit better than you think you do. The keys man, producer and composer has had his hand in all sorts of funky projects you’ve likely enjoyed. None would be better known than neo-soul luminaries Hiatus Kaiyote, but there are tons more high profile appearances: The Bamboos, for instance? I’ll let you dive down an internet rabbit hole looking for more, because we’ve got some music to listen to right now. It’s just a little record and, Mavin being who he is, it should probably come as no surprise that it features some very able help from his friends, but it’s time to enjoy Simon Mavin’s solo debut.

Right from the get-go I find the stylistic conceits of this buffed out double-single not only funkily enjoyable but possessed of a bit of humor as well. That begins with opening cut Good Hair Day which really doesn’t sound much like the experimental poise of HK but does sound quite a lot like the signature electro-boogie of Harvey Sutherland. It could’ve got very repetitive then, with his remix of the track being the very next cab off the rank. I think maybe the pair of them knew this and it’s especially nice that Harvey makes one of his better leaps out of his comfort zone and into some very frisky UK Garage. Halfway through and it’s a very tasteful win, so far.

With only a small amount to go it’s neat that we’re really kept guessing. Only You And Me sounds like early ‘90s Prince especially with those dirty bass synth squelches. It really can’t be Prince if it doesn’t sound quite a lot like sex. It is necessarily without Prince, obviously, although Mavin does his best to fill those tiny, velvet shoes, providing a nicely vocoded vocal. He might be a bit shy about it, because it only turns up in the second half and is mixed quite far into the background. Trying to out-Prince the Princeness would’ve been dangerous territory and so Naarm / Melbourne dancefloor fusionists Close Counters go in the opposite direction and smooth things out with a funky but pretty ambient house reinterpretation of Only. It owes a slightly more subtle debt than Sutherland’s to UK Garage which, all in all, imparts both variety and a nice symmetry to the four cuts that groove away in this EP’s little discotheque.

I know Simon Mavin has no shortage of musical avenues to head down and exciting projects to take up his time. On the strength of just a small release, however, we’ve opened up new vistas to his sound and, quite firmly, I want to hear a whole lot more, please.

- Chris Cobcroft.