Will Russek has spent the majority of his artistic time working from behind a closed curtain; in the six years since his initial musical touchdown via the Wonky Llama Noms EP, he's gradually developed and refined the edges of his personal Schmoop project. The dual release of “Charge/Get Back” in December of 2018 put us in touch with his own production chops and the emerging stylistic direction of his solo material, showcasing a blitz of shredded low end design and dancefloor-ready rhythms. Elaborating on his steadily-advancing compositional direction, the Focal Point EP is a potent combination of palatable grooves and pure firepower.

The driving focus of the Focal Point EP lies somewhere in the midst of broken-beat rhythms and meaty synthesis; the funked-out bass lines ungulate with razor-sharp distortion without obfuscating the tertiary elements of the music. The relationship between lean drum patterns and hyper-saturated low end in “Hard Edges” exemplifies the tight control of the EP's composition, smoothly interpolating sheer mass and clever turnarounds. Balancing out the spectrum of tones and atmospheres, “Outskirts” brings salient drum programming and meandering harmonies to the forefront, toning down the mean-muggedness and amplifying the melody-centric side of of Russek's musical realm. In tandem, the EP's tracks touch on the burgeoning cornerstones of the Schmoop project, and provide the clearest lens yet into it's potential future developments.

Russek's reputation as an undercover gun slinger has preceded him for quite a few years, and the delivery of the succinct, precision package that is the Focal Point EP puts a veritable seal of authenticity on the musings of the grapevine. With a laser-sharp understanding of stereophonics and pocketed grooves, we're undeniably curious as to what comes next, but in the meantime, we’ll be helping ourselves to oversized portions of Focal Point.

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