You can tell a Shanti Celeste production by its spring-loaded groove and radiant tones. No matter the style she works in, these qualities remain constant: apparent in the electro snap of 2014’s “Universal Glow,” the swirling deep house of 2015’s Alma, the deep-hued Detroitisms of 2017’s “Being.” The Chilean-British DJ’s latest EP is her first new solo work since her 2019 debut album and first appearance on the UK’s feted Hessle Audio label—a signing that might indicate a turn toward darker strains of bass music. But nope: Celeste sounds as sunny as ever. The perfectly titled “Cutie” deploys pert, pitched-up vocal cut-ups over a bouncy tech-house groove and brightly colored synths that suggest a kawaii rainforest painting. It’s great, an unconventional anthem you can expect will be giving dancefloors a boost for years to come. But “Shimmer” is the real masterstroke here. It starts in the shadows, with a stark kick-clap pattern and melancholy vocal loop that echoes bass music classics like “Hyph Mngo” and “Another Girl”—uncharacteristically somber terrain for Celeste. But she soon blows the roof sky high: Motor City pads throw off the green flash of a tropical sunset; the bassline hints, briefly, at Blaze’s classic “Lovelee Dae”; staccato keys and new-age piano suggest a dreamily dappled Fauvist landscape. The energy is as driven as ever, but the spirit of the thing makes “Shimmer” Celeste’s starriest work yet.
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