4 out of 5

Label: Central Processing Unit

Produced by: Rhys Celeste

Microlith’s Dance With Me is an unassuming CPU release. While the imprint’s streamlined design does impose sort of a proving-ground for its roster – when all album visuals are the same, and very minimalist to boot, you’re really making your main impression with the music, how novel – there’s still press to read, and first tracks to get blown away by. So a lot of this stuff has a pedigree, or immediately calls to mind your favorite electro subgenre or classic artist, it maybe just gets all wild and crazy with beats and synths. 

Microlith… doesn’t have, or do, any of that. Even the album title feels unassuming: a casual question; an invite. But if you don’t want to dance?… well, then, Microlith is happy to do so on their own. 

That’s the pleasure of this disc: it has a confident vibe that’s ready to wile the night away, regardless of whether or not you’re listening. It’s not showy, nor is it minimalist. It’s not electro – or some other easily classifiable style – but it exists with an aura of familiarity, calling up moments from some classic 90s electro… but only moments; a brief smile. Otherwise, Microlith exists in their head, which is a collection of bouncy rhythms, with warm, embracing melodies surfing along atop. 

It’s never very complex, though there’s an excellent grasp of composition on display, keeping things moving along with slight shifts; you get to know the beats easily, but also feel rewarded by the changes, even if they’re small. 

That said, this does come across as a bit of a continuous mix, and one where the pace / tone doesn’t vary much. It’s fascinating that Microlith can get this amount of material out of what feels like a limited range of music, but they do; it just makes picking standout moments somewhat impossible – it’s all pretty even keeled. 

Rhys Celeste – Microlith – was sadly taken from us at 24 in a traffic accident. They showed, at that young age, the wisdom of learning to do one thing very, very well, and it’s only a shame we didn’t get to hear them expand that to covering even more of those things.