Ross From Friends starts 2021 on a new footing. The Brainfeeder-affiliated producer launches his own imprint, Scarlet Tiger, with Burner—catalogue number ST001, distributed by LG105—a single that arrives as the first taste of a year that’s set to include a full album later down the line.
And what a first taste it is. Burner is the kind of track that feels instantly familiar and quietly strange in equal measure: a dusty, swung drum pattern that seems to wobble ever so slightly off the beat, warm organ stabs and hazy pads settling over a sub-heavy bassline that lollops rather than pushes. There’s a tactile, tape-worn quality to the percussion—clicks and hats smeared with soft saturation, the whole arrangement breathing like a record found at the back of a charity shop. It’s unmistakably Ross From Friends, yet it feels looser, more playful than some of his earlier club-focused work.
The charm lies in the details. Across its five minutes the track never quite resolves into the kind of four-to-the-floor motor you’d expect from a house cut—instead it sways, the snare landing a hair late, the melody lines curling around each other before dissolving into dusty air. Around the two-minute mark a muted synth lead rises out of the warmth like a half-remembered tune, and it’s that sense of memory, of something slightly out of reach, that gives the track its enduring pull.
If Burner is a mission statement, Scarlet Tiger’s intentions are clear: homegrown, characterful house music with warmth at its centre. It’s a modest, unhurried opening gambit, but one that rewards repeated spins—and a promising signpost for the album to come.
