a Arkist Ft. Lee Risdale - Summer Shimmer aa Arkist - Whipper Snapper In a flurry of melodic energy like only he can whip up, Apple Pips mainstay Arkist returns with two assured cuts that perfectly build on the strengths he has always displayed for killer production and mean hooks. While his previous turns for the label “Rendezvous” and “Fill Your Coffee” made a devastating impact when they dropped back in 2011, this new pair of tracks sees one of Bristol’s finest further broadening his sonic palette with a wild array of cues feeding into an undeniably fresh end result. “Summer Shimmer” is a synth-heavy throwdown that rests on top of a steady-ticking arpeggio, live guitar chops & a crisp disco beat. Cheeky bass licks only accentuate the funk on the lead in, but it’s all a precursor for the dynamic twists and turns the track whips round, from bittersweet piano chords to snarling filter sweeps, starlit strafes to Moog-ish growls. Both wildly imaginative and utterly instantaneous at the same time, it’s everything you expect of Arkist but rendered in a completely new way. As if “Summer Shimmer” wasn’t fresh enough, “Whipper Snapper” comes loping in on a piano jazz refrain that instantly promises a one-of-a-kind jam that lives and breathes with the quality of true musicianship. The chords range and nudge with the natural lilt of a hand played instrument, while around it a peppy concoction of swung house keeps the groove moving. An ostentatious breakdown takes away all the immediacy of the track, only to rebuild it in a wholly new way led by a warm synth line and sizzling drums, all but leaving the hook of the start of the tune behind and charging onto pastures new. Some things in life though are too irresistible to not return to, and sure enough the climax of the tune is an effervescent return to that raunchy keys workout. Just when you think you have a handle on Arkist and the sound he has been forging for the past three years of releases, he’ll bring forth a release like this that catapults his inimitable gift for hi-resolution melodic funk into entirely new realms of imaginative production. There’s just no second guessing some artists…