Jack Dixon - You Won't Let Me

Jack Dixon
You Won’t Let Me
APOLLO

Jack Dixon is just about to blow up, you can feel it. For the past year or so he has been releasing amazing originals and remixes, wowing anyone who is lucky enough to hear his work and building a reputation thanks to the number of people saying “man, have you heard of this Jack Dixon guy?”. His latest work, You Won’t Let Me, further cements his reputation as an artist capable of bringing many styles together into a coherent whole.



Title track You Won’t Let Me is a smooth deep house ride with just the right amount of UK garage’s swing and shuffle. Simple, unobtrusive percussion leaves plenty of room for the phat, melodic bassline to push through the mix, perfectly complemented by filtered washes of white noise, delightful chords and reverbed chimes. The pitched-down vocal, although now becoming a staple for Dixon, still works a treat and he is one of the few producers who know how to edit vocals so they fit into the mix, rather than feel tacked on top of it.

Saviour is a slightly funkier, more playful affair. Shuffly drums and a punchy bassline made from reverbed tom-toms give the track a UK funky vibe. However, Dixon’s trademark knack for injecting melody and warmth into his tracks is still on display here, with hollow, arpeggiated synths floating over the bottom-heavy rhythms, occasionally joined by haunting vocal samples.
Returning to the deep house vibes, Everytime combines R&B’s soul with house’s driving, no-nonsense rhythms. The four-to-the-floor kicks and thick, analogue bassline contrast nicely with the bouncy rim shots and cut-up breaks, creating a groove that sits somewhere between driving and sexual. An incessant, rapid-fire bell chime drenched in reverb makes up the majority of the melodic aspect of the tune, occasionally joined by filtered pads and a forlorn female vocal.

The EP is rounded out with Black Paint, a slow-burning, low BPM ride that is deceptively heavy. The minimalistic, clean percussion and echoed vocal stabs give the impression this is going to be a headphones-only kind of affair (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but once the bassline kicks in, Black Paint turns into an afterhours bomb. Both ballsy and beautiful, the low end contains plenty of sub bass to rattle any speaker stack, but a higher frequency, melodic lead is laid over the top, creating something that will make you want to close your eyes just as much as it will make you want to dance your face off.

Jack Dixon - You Won't Let Me is out now on Apollo Records

Listen to Jack Dixon on Pulse Radio