Bonobo, Jacques Greene – Fold

Last year saw Simon Green, AKA Bonobo, release what had been touted as his ‘masterpiece.’ Fragments, while perhaps not as groundbreaking as anticipated, did see Green venturing outside the Bonobo boundaries more than before, and thankfully so. Safety, after all, has proven time and again to be Green’s Achilles heel. Tracks like Rosewood and Otomo introduced elements of bass and garage into the Bonobo cannon, beat driven and propulsive in contrast to his usually atmospheric and slow burning sentitronica. Having just been announced as co-headliner of London’s Field Day Festival, sharing the title with none other than Aphex Twin, Bonobo has just released a new single in collaboration with Canadian house maestro Jacques Greene.

Download and stream Fold here

Coming off the back of this announcement, Fold is a smart move. A simmering tech cut, the track the perfect choice to build the sort of excitement Bonobo is likely looking to stir up before headlining a festival. Fold is programmed for peak time, with its punchy techno thud and ripcord bassline that peaks through beneath layers of squabbling, acidic synths and a looped vocal refrain that have the fingerprints of Greene’s influence all over them. Green and Greene make a formidable pairing, unsurprisingly. While Greene has been touring with Bonobo over the past year, this is their first work together. You can’t help but wonder why this never happened sooner. Both emerged from the mid-2000’s bedroom producer boom, and share an penchant for emotive atmospherics, although Greene’s instincts are arguably sharper in this regard. On Fold, he manages to temper Bonobo away from sentiment on the track’s more melodic and ethereal elements, making for what might be the most front-to-back banging Bonobo track ever.