Avalon Emerson returns to AD 93 — the label formerly known as Whities — with 040, her first release since September’s widely-acclaimed DJ-Kicks mix. It’s a three-track EP that splits neatly in two: one kaleidoscopic club weapon on the A-side and two introspective, slow-burning B-sides, together bridging the melodic house she’s known for and the headier techno her DJ sets have always reached towards.
A-side Rotting Hills needs little introduction. Premiered via the DJ-Kicks mix and already one of 2020’s defining club talking points, it arrives here in full 6:44 glory: a locked, four-to-the-floor kick beneath coruscating synth stabs and a dubby, low-slung bassline that flexes rather than flattens. The track’s genius is in its restraint — the melody teases, withdraws and only fully opens up in the final stretch, landing with the payoff the months of anticipation promised.
040 was Avalon Emerson's first release since her September DJ-Kicks mix.
The B-sides find Emerson in more reflective territory. Winter and Water is headier and more drawn-out, its murky pads and patient percussion unfolding like a deep-set techno journey, all reverb and shadow. One Long Day Till I See You Again closes the EP on its most vulnerable note — soft-focus chords, tape warmth and a near-ambient pulse that feels less like a set-closer than a thought left hanging in the air.
040 is a confident, compact statement from an artist in her stride. The A-side delivers the club heat; the B-sides give the record its heart. Three tracks, no filler — and a welcome sign of where Emerson’s sound is heading next.
