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Zomby - The Year In Review: Zomby - Dedication
Zomby : The Year In Review: Zomby - Dedication
16th December 2011

"A quality collection of sparse, melodic gems." - The Times (4/5)
"Wonderfully innovative, state-of-the-art urban electronica."
- Mojo (4/5)
"Downbeat and terrifically eerie... Each track merits close attention." - The Observer
"One of dubstep's, and music's, brightest flames." - Drowned In Sound (9/10)
"It's beautiful atmosphere of sadness and decay is hard to deny." - The Guardian (4/5)
"This is the best record that Zomby’s released yet and the really scary thing is he’s (not) anywhere near peaked (yet)." - FACT (4.5/5)
"Marked by its sense of restraint, it has an unusually strong emotional pull... Dedication is a further extension of Zomby's future strand of music." - The Wire

Zomby released his first album for 4AD, Dedication, in July. Over two and a half years since he released his debut album, Where Were U In ‘92?, Dedication was a wholly different record to its predecessor. Dedicated to the memory of an absent friend, it is both a dark and absorbing listen that engulfs the listener, running between sparse electronics, techno hooks and minimal piano riffs. Making up for lost time, Dedication continued to put Zomby at a distance from his peers.

The 16 tracks are glacial, glassy and melodic in equal measure, running a gauntlet between the sombre piano tones of 'Basquiat' through to the Panda Bear collaboration 'Things Fall Apart', to the Starfactory sampling 'Natalia's Song', a track originally penned for kindred spirit, Burial. A true maverick, Zomby represents the brave front of dance music, and with Dedication has proved himself a formidable and precocious producer.

In what was a busy year, Zomby returned on November 28th with the release of a new seven track record, entitled Nothing. Issued on limited edition white vinyl 12" and download, it promptly sold out on pre-order alone.

The trademark arpeggios and lilting melodies that have always characterized Zomby’s music are still present, what is startling is the breadth of styles channeled in just twenty-two minutes. Nothing runs a gamut of sonic textures, drawing on jungle, rave, and grime in equal and unpredictable measure. Indeed, the immaculately titled closing track ‘Ecstasy Versions’ is a perfect condensing of Zomby’s muse, and an open door into his future. Wherever that might lead.

Listen to 'Natalia's Song' from Dedication below.