Laurence Guy - Mutual Excitement is a Wonderful Thing

1. Love Theme for the Morning After (06:13)
2. Mutual Excitement is a Wonderful Thing (04:53)
3. Certain (To a Certain Extent) (04:05)

Laurence Guy returns to Shall Not Fade with his much-anticipated third EP, adding to last year’s massively successful ‘The Sun Is Warm and Directly Above You’ and ‘Your Good Times Will Come’. The London-based producer has amassed a global audience of listeners, all united in their appreciation for his luscious, upbeat house music and an outstanding discography of releases via imprints like: Ninja Tune, Late Night Tales, Studio Barnhus and Mule Musique.
While still unmistakably Laurence Guy’s signature style of delicately constructed, sample-heavy dance music, this EP carries a sombre note, reflective of the confusing times in which it was made. The A-side’s ‘Love Theme For The Morning After’ maintains a positive and danceable atmosphere, an ode to the moments of clarity and contentment we grasp in the afterglow. Musically, it is an ecstatic build-up of chords that leave you breathless, with a rhythm that pulses as consistently as a heartbeat throughout.
By comparison to this joyfully glittering track, the B-side deals with more difficult emotions. Throughout ‘Mutual Excitement’, barely distinguishable vocal samples overlap each other in a hazy clamour, whilst natural keys play a bittersweet melody, pondering the uncertainty of a new relationship. Guy says of the final track, ‘Certain (To A Certain Extent)’ “2020 was a hard year to be certain of anything, I found myself frozen in pretty much every decision I had to make”. The song, a stripped-back melody built from a low fidelity jazz sound palette, is not just an exploration of the sense of uncertainty 2020 gave us, but expresses Guy’s acceptance of living without certainty. This soothing message is at the core of the EP, managing to create a sense of hope during an unsettled time.