DJ Psychiatre - Never Complain (2021)

Shall Not Fade sub-label Lost Palms welcomes DJ Psychiatre (Sylvain Creton) to its cadre for an extended EP of hypnotic house, following on from his stellar contribution to Shall Not Fade’s 5 Years compilation. The enigmatic French producer has always let his music speak for itself, and on Never Complain he cures lockdown blues with a collection of tracks that are uplifting and carefree.

DJ Psychiatre channels classic deep house and laid back, sultry vibes across the record. ‘I Was There’ is built around a funky bassline but isn’t overstated, tempting the listener in with swirling synths. In contrast, ‘Very Funky, Very Soulful’ is exactly that: a grooving number that gets your hips moving. Genre-hopping, Creton then presents us with a rigid techy number in ‘Never Complain’, still making way for some dusty soulful chords in a callback to his lofi roots. On the B-side, ‘Bouncing Back’ ups the tempo - pacey and danceable hard-hitting house. ‘Keep This Sound Going’ is a swinging piece, somewhere between lounge jazz and house music for the early hours, and there’s some old-school deep tech stylisation in the infectious bassline of ‘Feelings - Xdeep mix’. Seductive whispers that tempt the dancer give way to a syncopated rhythm and funky, slapping bass in the record’s climax, ‘Le Ciel’. With an elongated 303-laden outro, it’s as if Creton doesn’t want the music to end - and neither do we.