EP Review: Straight To The Moon - Tanner Ross

Image source: Zaber RidersThis new one out on Double Standard is pure gloss and sweat. Tanner's EP recalls smooth electronic R&B from the late eighties and early nineties conjuring an infectious retro set of smooth grooves. It feels like it almost could have been there.

Straight To The Moon opens with the ensemble cast number 'Blame Game', featuring Slow Hands, Pillow Talk and Jesse Rennix - the latter two sparring syrupy vocals that keep the soul flowing. Next up is 'Frequent Flyer' featuring Jules Born - it's a heavier, funkier track that melds 'Billie Jean'-esque wandering bass lines with a more up-to-date production style. The result is thick and infectious, lazy and sun bleached and therefore perfect for days doing nothing in the warm summer sun.

The instrumental title track is more cosmic - basically little more than a locked groove tweaked out over four-minutes that sounds like Com Truise with a Flock Of Seagulls haircut. 'Straight To Mexico' is more laid back - swirling keys and drums stabbed through a honey thick bass. Soul Clap's Lonely C turns up on 'Be Chillin'', a dubby affair with distorted vocals that is the one track here that struggles to justify its position.

Things are rounded out with instrumentals of 'The Blame Game' and 'Frequent Flyer'. Overall Straight To The Moon feels a little like one idea played several times over but it's so perfectly suited to summer pool parties and slow, hot days that it's hard to resist.

Straight To The Moon is released on 18 June through Double Standard.