Art Department – ‘The Drawing Board’

Art Department are a well-respected house duo from Canada and their album ‘The Drawing Board’ is being released in April. I’ve had it on rotation all weekend.

The glum house track ‘Without You’ was #2 in Mixmag’s EOY rundown and I think it was #1 on Resident Advisor’s. I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind since I first heard it.

What makes it unique to me isn’t its minimal 90s-style disco-house stomp. This kind of thing is also being done by Soul Clap, Tensnake and Azari & III, although AD do it very well indeed. But what strikes me is the starkness of the dead-eyed male diva vocal and lyric: “I just can’t/No I can’t/Make it without you/I don’t know what to do/I can’t/Make it without you”. It’s a mournful Studio 54 zombie-chant that flips house on its head for me by being completely unmitigated in its misery. There’s absolutely no good times going on in the singer’s world. It’s not even sadness or anger being expressed here – it’s terminal despair, and that’s what freaks me out about this record.

“Down” lyrics may have always existed in dance music; heartbreak turning up in all sorts of songs as far back as the disco age. But there’s usually some sense of catharticism apparent in these tracks; either through a liberating sense of justice or a positive conclusion to the song’s narrative. ‘Without You’ is almost punishing in its doom and despair. It doesn’t resolve itself in any way.

At the same time I could totally see how this works on the dancefloor. The only catharsis in this tune is the way the beat bounces and drives so fluidly. There’s a huge dark/light dichotomy going on between the music and singing.

‘Without You’ takes a huge risk by addressing depression on the dancelfoor. Almost working as a forewarning of the following day – maybe an acceptance of the ecstacy comedown? I dunno. I think you’d have to be brave to play this out at a club night unless your audience were already well versed on the dance canon.

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