Forgiveness and apologies are the heart of any kind of actual community, but they’re also risky stuff, trapdoors that open spaces for emotional manipulation and abuse. Mexico-based producer Jessica Smurphy, here performing under her explicitly club-oriented moniker UPGRAYEDD SMURPHY, seems to know this on physical level. Her latest EP, Sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you is tense, percussive club music taking cues from Ho’oponopono, which she describes as “a Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness, that is so necessary nowadays in our daily life and, of course, in the dance floor.” Taut, densely torqued samples of the title phrases play out over its tracks, each of which takes a chunk of the EP’s title as both its own title and central sample, a back-and-forth between bodies, fear and reconciliation drawn into the fabric of its propulsive thrust. The dance floor as a space for two or more bodies, dense drum breaks and enveloping bass pulses forming the tissue between them, pulling them into synchronicity. This is precise, kinetic stuff, pure club effectiveness alongside emotional turmoil and stuttering intimacy.
Hit play, open your body to the terror of “I’m sorry,” and we might even end up at an “I Love You” that feels like something other than romantic, something that feels like community.
UPDATE (9/22): Jessica Smurphy has updated the description of the EP. Please check it out on her Bandcamp page.
More about: Upgrayedd Smurphy
