REVIEW: Logic1000 – In The Sweetness Of You EP

Logic1000 is the alias of Berlin-based producer Samantha Poulter. Poulter rose to prominence in 2018 with an accomplished debut EP and a series of acclaimed remixes, earning co-signs from the likes of Floating Points and Four Tet. In The Sweetness of You is her second EP of 2021, and it’s another efficient exhibition of her craft.

The word ‘efficient’ very much comes to mind here. Poulter’s latest is a brisk 20-minute workout of uptempo house music, and it delivers exactly what you’d expect from that description. Opener ‘It’s All Around’ is a minimal club tune anchored around a four-to-the-floor beat that doesn’t stray too far from its central rhythm. ‘What You Like’ has a similar conceit; this time the beat is accompanied by the soulful vocals of yunè pinku. It sounds kinda like a Disclosure song from around their 2013 peak, which, in my opinion, is a positive – there’s a lot to be said for uncomplicated dance music.

Third track ‘Just Calling’ is another high BPM tune that rattles along with the minimum of fuss. Like the preceding songs, it sounds like music created by a confident beatmaker; someone very much in command of the tools at their disposal. I can see how Poulter’s work appeals to the veterans of the game. It’s easy to imagine these tunes being effortlessly dropped into year-end DJ sets around the country. Attending a New Year’s rave? You might just hear some Logic1000 in the setlist.

The club is very much the setting that I imagine these songs will be suited to most. The word ‘Balearic’ has been used to describe this new EP, and these high tempo tunes sound tailor-made for Ibiza’s climes. I listened to this release in dark, wet Greater Manchester though, and that setting revealed some of the drawbacks to these songs: they’re not massively suited to home listening. These are competent club tunes, but there’s little of sonic interest around the beats to reward an isolated headphone listen to this EP. On a song like ‘Natural’ for instance, though it adds garage-style breakbeats into the mix and the cooing vocals of Big Ever, it’s still something that would work better in the midst of a night out rather than on its own steam.

But that is presumably the intention with this release, and if you are enjoying some continental autumn sun there’s enough to like here. And Logic1000 leaves outdoor and indoor ravers with something to mutually appreciate on final track ’21’. It’s the best tune here, a blissful combination of rattling drums and rising and falling keys that sounds like the ideal soundtrack to a late summer sunset. It’s the only song that fulfils the pre-release blurb of ‘warmth and nostalgia’ that this release supposedly evokes, and it sounds like it belongs on a different EP, but its presence is much appreciated – perhaps hinting at a different direction for her next collection of songs. For now though, In The Sweetness of You is mainly a bunch of professionally-made floorfillers. For those of you enjoying them in the Balearics, [through gritted teeth] have fun.

Words by Tom Burrows