Last year legendary producer and preeminent record-sampler DJ Shadow stepped out of his instrumental comfort zone to release a single with rap duo Run The Jewels. He elaborated on his reasoning behind the partnership, saying, “The goal of any collaboration is to make something that’s unique in your catalogue and in mine.” That might as well be the mantra for Mr. Tophat and Robyn’s three-track Trust Me EP, which finds both artists caught in each other’s gravitational pulls and forming a centrifuge of disco-infused house music.
The project is clearly more of a departure for dance-pop icon Robyn than it is for Mr. Tophat, a veteran of Stockholm’s underground house scene. With tracks averaging somewhere between ten and fifteen minutes long, these song structures are the most organic and sinuous of her career. She’s never had to live inside a single chord for so long (house music typically spends more time on one harmony than most pop tunes even run). She adapts by taking a back seat and allowing her voice to elevate the music instead of the other way around; her atmospheric vocals fit Mr. Tophat’s sonic palette so well they could almost be mistaken for another of his tastefully curated samples.
As for Robyn’s influence on the DJ, one might think she’d pull him towards a retro 80s sound, but surprisingly the EP is less glossy than some of his previous singles. It does boast some colorful textures, such as the standout string samples on 'Disco Davato', but generally the vibe throughout Trust Me is more grayscale and dimly lit. In fact, the smoky half-light vibes the EP evokes is the common ground between the two artists. Sure, a Robyn dance party has more choreography and a Mr. Tophat dance party is sweatier, but both groove with metronomic intensity. No doubt Trust Me EP will be the soundtrack for many dance parties to come as it's one of the finest house music releases of the month.
