Zurich-based veteran producer Kalabrese is back with another assured three-track EP taking a fairly familiar but reliable formula. Essentially deep house structures, grooves stripped down and laid out with a confident flatness, are decorated with somewhat indie-ish male vocals (that put me in mind of Chris Rea for some reason), and some squelchy acid bleeps for decoration.

First track “Let Me Be Your Princess” is a steady complete journey that in one way seems to throw back to the classic early days of the extended mix, knowing full well that the right groove and very gradual change is sometimes all you need. With a gender-relaxed lyric which I’m fairly sure is saying “let me be your Santa” quite a lot, I guess it could also qualify as a Christmas record…?

“Dance Yourself Clean” ups the indie flavour, still maintaining the groove but in a more definite song structure with more of a live funk feel, and while the same elements are all still there in similar measure, somehow the result feels more dated. Both this and final track “Ligestuetz”, which foregrounds Lara Stoll’s spoken German tones, wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a mid-noughties ‘indie rocks’ compilation alongside Soulwax or DFA.

The title track is certainly the standout but it’s a confident and fairly satisfying release that falls quite far into the old “dance music for indie kids that don’t like dance music” territory.