Lawrence

On the Divided 12”, Hamburg’s Peter Kersten (aka Lawrence) offers up three gorgeous shades of dance music, a trio of tracks exploring the prolific producer’s love of ambience and subtle rhythmic play.

“Divided” is a classic, a congas-and-trash-cans gallop through melancholy fields of synthesizer. Rhythms act as melodies, melodies masquerade as rhythms, and the track’s subtle, cymbal-led climax hits harder than any siren.

“Forever Anna” seems to chart a relationship with the titular love object. Over the course of six and a half minutes, the main theme—a tentative sequence of melodic synth stabs—goes through a series of rhythmic episodes, from its initial ecstatic pop ‘n thwock (the initial flutter?), to a spacey, half-time chug (the long, sweet middle?), to a drifting ambient fake-out (the inevitable conclusion?) and one more brief fling with rhythm (a hint at rebirth?). In the end, of course, all that remains is the theme.

Finally, “Blow Up” pairs a horizon-scanning beat to some genuinely soul-stirring chord changes, which seem to periodically melt into woozy dissonance and then ooze back into shape again. Brief and direct, the record-closing track has a cinematic lilt that belies Lawrence’s belief in the oft-underappreciated power of a good melody in techno.