Mark E

Oranges Mark E

The magic of classic house music has always lain in the way it finds a soul in the machine, eking warm organic sounds from cold circuitry. And tracks don't come much warmer or more organic than "Oranges", a glorious eight-minute slow-burner that's the second single from Wolverhampton producer Mark E's 2011 release Stone Breaker. "Oranges" is a track that demonstrates how the simplest of ingredients — a quietly insistent four-to-the-floor rhythm, an understated bassline, synth pads that sound like the first intimations of a Balearic sunrise — can combine to create something remarkable. Anyone who's got the CD/digital release of Stone Breaker, of course, will know this already — but this release is the first chance to own this track on vinyl, as it was absent from the album's LP release. On the flipside is a remix of "Oranges" by Mark E himself: the appropriately-named "Space Dub", a Lindstrøm-esque reworking that transports the track from the dance floor to some distant orbit, drifting through space on a wash of lambent fuzz-toned synths. As different as they are, both tracks share a sense of both space and intimacy, a mellow charm that's evocative and inclusive. A soul in the machine.