Artist: ODD
Title: Dont Look At Me
Label: Sumsonic Recordings
By: Simon Jones | 21 January 2003
Tracklist:

• A: Original Mix
• B: Paul Rogers Late Night Dub

ODD "Dont Look At Me"

Having already been involved with legendary Greek producer G-Pal, Sumsonic bring to us yet more talent from that land in the form of ODD. The project of a trio of musicians, vocalist Olga Kouklaki, alongside Damien Nikolaou and producer Fotis Paterakis, 'Don't Look At Me' tries to cross the boundaries between song based structures within a dance style arrangement, and already the track has gained some support on the dancefloors across the world, so it's time to find out just what the appeal is..

The 'Original Mix' is based around a rolling percussion intro, dropping into American Beauty-esque strings and very different vocal that loosely slots into the track as it unfolds. The melody that emerges has a slightly eerie side to it, and is complimented well by the xylophone that appears during the breakdown, where the bottom end drops out and the pace lifts, with the strings becoming more cinematic in stance. This is more than progressive. This is beautiful.

Following on from tracks including 'Lazy Monday' and 'Krafty', Paul Rogers delivers his 'Late Night Dub' interpretation of 'Don't Look At Me, a delayed groove and constant percussion come together to create the backdrop over which the warm, emotive melody slides, with the odd vocal snippet slipped in on top like the cherry on a cake. The production on this mix as you would expect from Paul Rogers is oustanding, and it's hard to avoid not being drawn in as the atmospherics of the break as they ooze through the speakers, before the groove returns with more depth and ambience than before. Imagine you are laying outdoors on a hazy summer's day, and this mix would be the perfect soundtrack to that scenario.

Remixes will follow from Darko and Fotis under his F Pat alias. Watch out for them.