Ambient dance star RAMZi conjures the first release on her FATi label since 2020, a coolly enchanting, buoyant suite of modal grooves including contributions from DJ Python, CZ Wang, and anabasin
‘Feu Follet’ consists of eight interlinked “quests” by RAMZI’s anthropomorphised subjects, the fire flies of its title, dancing between dusky Balaeric strums, percolated new age dembow, 2-step and glowing goan sand tramplers, neatly gilded with FM synth lustre.
As RAMZi outlines, “Feu Follets (Fire Sprites) are fireflies, flickering balls of light dancing in the dark shadows, found in fields, forests, chaparral, and scrublands, the many different landscapes of RAMZi’s whimsical adventures.” The notion lends the album a playful effervescence that emerges across its user-friendly emotional register and shimmering, polychromatic colour scheme.
‘rising’ dawns its ideas in weightless form, while DJ Python helps root them in robust deep dembow rhythms etched with Arabic flute trills right out of the DJ Plead playbook. Her 2-stepping title tune is the set’s most “up”, while the rest sloshes between light-touch mid tempo sway in ‘all ball’ to the wavey, warm Goan breeze of ‘tien-bon’, a late ‘90s/early ‘00s breaks wriggler, and best of all, the sub-loaded sashay of ‘tone beats’ produced with fellow Vancouverite CZ Wang ov Mood Hut.
In a word: essential!