After over three years spent releasing around twenty singles and five albums, building a seven-person live show, and filtering tens of thousands of fresh dubs for their monthly Rinse FM show, Dusk & Blackdown return with their comeback 12” for their own Keysound Recordings. Written over the last three years, the tracks cluster around 2step garage, approaching it from differing oblique angles. Blackdown’s VIP mix of Dusk’s ‘Focus’ takes the euphoric string-lead anthem into more sour territory. ‘Ex-Swing’ is a bold excursion into off-the grid swing. And A-side ‘High Road’ produced by Dusk & Blackdown +, is a dark and deadly roller that acknowledges their collective debt to dubstep pioneer El-B. It was car tested extensively at night before being committed to vinyl, and is an instantly arresting excursion into compressed low end rhythmics that fast reveals itself to be far greater than the sum of its immediately apparent parts. Alongside other influences past and present, the duo acknowledge a debt to UK garage’s heritage. Developing their sound away from 2008’s ‘Margins Music’ album, this 12” seeks to explore the untapped experimental possibilities within the unintentionally-abstract popular genre without resorting to dumbing down, dilution or alienation. It’s an exploration of groove: just different grooves. A. Dusk & Blackdown + - ‘High Road’ AA1. Dusk - ‘Focus’ (Blackdown VIP) AA2. Dusk & Blackdown - ‘Ex-Swing’