Leon Vynehall Music For The Uninvited

House goes back home (via Portsmouth) in style. Leon Vynehall did his maths homework and produced tracks that are amazingly up-to-date and recapture symmetrically some other fascinating styles rooted in voguing and the Harlem balroom scene, such as queer rap and Chicago juke. On the one hand, he included their respective critical abilities, and on the other hand, he simply wrapped up few years of our zeal for fascinating, metaphysical house (from Sprinkles' classic milestone to Coyote Clean Up or Fort Romeau) and stepped into this micro-canon with a jaw-dropping bounce. While Mykki Blanco or Le1f owe a lot to house, Vynehall took advantage of his soul and rap inclinations to an even greater extent, serving us an even more synergic mixture.

Somebody called Vynehall "Le Corbusier of deep house" on RYM, obviously because of a simplified image of architectural theory, synesthetic laziness and childish view on modernist shapes, but thanks to this casual association, when I listen to "Christ Air", my thoughts flow unwittingly towards Le Corbusier's house in Cap Martin with a view on the Deku Tree, where I could sit and enjoy such a vital and organic soundtrack that evokes the best parts of Moon Safari. And all of this just a moment after "It’s Just (House of Dupree)", sampling Dilla and a classic film about the voguing culture, "Paris Is Burning", and a few tracks after the blinding virtuosity of the utterly groovy bass line in "Be Brave, Clench Fists", just to introduce a touching closer, "St. Sinclair", that along with agitating string intro constitutes this astonishing album's frame.

The manifesto rhetoric that shows up here and there reminds obviously of Midtown 120 Blues, but Music for the Uninvited is not that ideologically charged. Instead, an attentive listener is offered a pristine beauty of an elegant album which pulsating vibe might be consumed from the beginning to the end like a candyfloss. Such a listener may single out the most monumental bass lines prioritise melodic house coated with white noise patina over strict cuts of vocal samples, but all in all they will find an attitude of an erudite that is immersed in modern times, but distils old tapes' memories to create eclectic melodies and seriousness that is not deprived of a specific sense of humour.