Protect-U is the studio project of Mike Petillo and Aaron Leitko, who are associated with the new breed of dance music producers from in and around Washington DC, coming from a similar background as Ital, Innergaze and Beautiful Swimmers, with a history of playing alongside Mi Ami, Blues Control, Slava, Steve Moore, and Pissed Jeans among others. Mike is also co-owner of the very cool record label Future Times, alongside Andrew Field-Pickering aka Maxmillion Dunbar, who is also one half of Beautiful Swimmers. The music they make is a bottom up take on dance music created out of sessions jamming on analogue gear that got serious, resulting in a brittle, but soft and exuberant house music, thoughtfully paired down to the fundamentals and kissed by sunshine and good times. Their first two EPs on Future Times have attracted lots of the right kind of attention, and this three tracker follows in the same trajectory. ‘Motorbike’ starts with a bassline that recalls early Jellybean-era Madonna, before the track is all but buried in woozy, psychedelic strings that seem to bend and vibrate around the rhythm. ‘Lawndog’ is a tougher beast, with tight syncopated tropical rhythms underpinning light and breezy synths seemingly borrowed from Dare-era Human League. ‘Invisible Halo’ is hazier and slower, bumping along in a drowsy fashion, like a slow accompaniment to the sunrise after the night before.