Spandrel
Healing Waters
Spandrel
As this newsletter has detailed at length, the average dance music track is getting shorter. So a nearly 14-minute groover? In this economy? That is exactly what Shyam Anand (a.k.a. Snad) delivers as the highlight of the latest release from his Spandrel moniker. As with all of the best long songs, “Healing Waters (Spandrelian Wave Dub Extended)” is built around a loop that feels like it could go on forever, the flickering warmth of the track’s dub chords, loose snares and warm sub bursts setting the stage for Laura Elle’s vocals. This groove sits at the heart of the song as Anand adds and subtracts little details, operating with the precision of a sommelier who’s working their way through a tasting menu pairing.
Funnily enough, that “Extended” dub isn’t actually on the vinyl edition of Healing Waters, but it will be included on the digital version that’s slated to drop later this month. Regardless, the rest of the EP is just as good. The original “Healing Waters (Spandrelian Wave Dub)” is a solid place to begin—and considering that it clocks in just shy of eight minutes, it isn’t exactly short—but there’s also “Loop Stew,” a low-key deep house cut with plenty of swing that also happens to be a re-imagination of fellow Smart Bar alumnus Garrett David’s “Loop Soup.” On “Wavemaker,” Anand edges closer to the contemporary tech house continuum, though his trademark warm synth work gives the track a level of emotional depth that’s often missing in the genre’s European varietals.
At the end of the day, however, it’s that extended “Spandrelian Wave Dub” of “Healing Waters” that I keep rewinding. Is Snad the next-gen Ricardo? Only time will tell, but for now, this exquisitely hypnotic track feels like the summer’s best bathroom-break banger.
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