GELKA
Less Is More
WAXCD003
Waxon Records 2008
15 Tracks. 62mins17secs

While his debut album was dipped in early nineties bleepy electronics, George Evelyn, who also officiates as E.A.S.E., has since carved a much more soulful and chilled groove as Nightmares On Wax, and has been delivering regular slices of silky grooves and downbeat pleasures at more or less regular intervals. It is therefore no surprise to see him now backing new talents, especially when they evolve in similar waters, via his new imprint, Waxon Records.

Hailing from Budapest, Gelka is the project of Dömötör Sándor and Kürti Csaba, AKA Alex and Sergio. While Less Is More is their first full length release, the pair have been making music for the best part of the decade and have had tracks featured on numerous compilations, including a number of Café Del Mar volumes, over the years. This slow learning curve has evidently paid off. Far from restricting themselves to formulaic chill out and piling on Balearic clichés, they have produced with Less Is More a truly remarkable piece of work, set somewhere between smooth grooves and soul-infused urban blues. Featuring contributions from Nightmares On Wax regulars Ricky Ranking and Ella May, the album is dominated by the voice of Budapest-based Ghanaese singer Sena, who provides vocals on five of the fifteen tracks on offer here.

What Gelka create around is an elegant soundtrack which alternates between vocal and instrumental tracks, propagating the mood into each and every crack of this record. The melodies are catchy yet not obvious, the grooves are clean and effective, and the mood remains pretty constant throughout. Very much like Evelyn with NoW, the Gelka lads avoid the many pitfalls of chillout music by retaining the urban essence of their music and applying it in delicate touches. Songs such as Blame, Soon, Angry Eyes or the magnificent So Many Ways, which opens the hostilities, are too well crafted to serve as wallpaper music. Elsewhere, When You Gotta Go You Gotta Go, Eau Rouge Pt. 2 or Flow Motion reveal the bare music structure, highlighting beautifully crafted rhythms and lush yet often quite minimal instrumentations, and provide some of this album’s finest moments.

While Gelka haven’t quite reinvented a genre all too often tired and lacking of any drive, they have produced with Less Is More a confident and engaging record more suited for the small hours than for diner time. The album is consistent and confidently assembled, and is one of these growers that stick in the mind long after the music has stopped.

4.1/5

Gelka (MySpace) | Waxon Records
Buy: CD | iTunes