Will & Held – Vim & Vigour

Label: Vim & Vigour
Release Date: 02/11/15

We live a world of music so readily available in the digital world that it can be overbearing. It takes time, often days to siphon through promos, blogs, online stores, specialist music sites; even when we put our time aside to hit the record shops we can get lost for hours and often find ourselves being politely escorted out of the vinyl racks as the doors close.

So aside from looking for labels that we follow religiously, or the latest EP from the artists that we love, it’s always a privilege to be presented something completely new before it hits the shelves. Take the first release of Vim & Vigour – the imaginatively titled ‘001’ – a brand new label straight out of London Town.

Kick starting the label’s new series is an EP from Yorkshire born duo Will & Held. The pair first joined forces for their debut EP for Spinning Plates earlier this year. For their next endevaour on VV001, the lead track ‘Mend’ is instantly mesmerising – slow drones and pulsing strings move across a sobre low-fi backdrop that make this feel like a soundscape straight out of a movie scene. As the percussion slowly creeps into Will & Held’s analogue landscape, dusty dub-techno stabs roll over a dreamy marimba-esque melody line.

‘Rooms’ follows a similar path, weaving super-deep pads into subtle organic percussion as the track slowly builds. Off-kilter rim shots and gritty shaker sounds eventually fall into 4×4 territory after a beautiful reverse-chord breakdown. ‘Rooms’ keeps building with subtle new melodies that only the well trained ear might come across.

Tom Demac’s remix of ‘Mend’ pieces together all the elements of the original, while throwing in a heavyweight kick and rolling percussion to make this dancefloor certified. Tom’s production techniques always carry a trademark of quality, and this remix will no doubt be seeing some warehouse and basement club action.

One of the labels main concepts is putting out records alongside a strong visual element, with original photography and film. We’re already looking forward to seeing and hearing the next chapter that Vim & Vigour has to offer.