Thirteen of the sixteen cuts on '7HE CR3W Compilation Vol. 1' sit in a major key. For a genre that tends to live in minor mode, that alone is a statement: this first volume of the series on Moonity Records —a progressive psytrance imprint that lists Datlash and Detecto on its own roster— draws a bright, almost daylight landscape. The opener announces it: Datlash's 'A Trip Somewhere' floats at 109 BPM in B major for 5:14, more reverie than dancefloor. And the closer answers from the same hemisphere: 'Indya' by Blizzard Music and SHIGAON, 105 BPM in B-flat major. The record walks in and walks out, never sprinting.
Between those poles, the map splits into two altitudes. Down low, a wide valley between 89 and 118 BPM, home to 'Oasis' (Danadin, the shortest cut at 4:52) and Mao's 'Anxieties And Fears', which despite its title unfolds in G major at 89 BPM: the most placid anxiety in the catalogue. Up high, the 132–147 ridge: 'Stellar', 'Tambana', 'Midnight Bazaar' and 'Phoenix', which crowns the set at 147 in D major. Even Poxell's 'Darkness' plays out in D major at 135: not even darkness dares go minor here. One cartographic detail: the geographically minded titles —'Tambana', 'Africa', 'Indya'— all share B-flat major, as if the label had inked a whole continent in the same colour.
Three shadows on the map
Only three tracks cross into minor mode, and they work like faults in the terrain:
- 'Gate Away' (Perfecto, E minor, 118 BPM): the first crack, halfway between valley and ridge.
- 'Severance' (Organic Soup, G minor, 111 BPM): 7:22 of introspection deep in the low country.
- 'Trip To Fantasy' (California Sunshine, E-flat minor, 145 BPM): the longest cut (7:36) and the darkest, signed by the project Harel Prusky and DJ Miko founded in 1995, whose 'The Summer of 89' was once remixed by Paul Oakenfold.
That the veteran of the lot brings the gloomiest key hardly feels accidental: on a record that bets on light, the shadow comes from the one who has seen the most sunrises.
Sources: Moonity · Bandcamp