London-based Italian beatmaker TSVI teams up with prolific IDM revitalizer Loraine James to rustle up five deliciously euphoric wonked bangers that bridge the gap between pounding club music and heady emotionality..

After impressing on fiery link-ups with object blur, DJ Plead and Lorenzo BITW Guglielmo Barzacchini lands on AD 93 once more for this head-to-head with the ever-on-point Loraine James. The result is a tight set of songs that land perfectly between both artists’ respective styles, centering hard-as-nails rhythms, angelic melodies and the kind of drum tweaks you’d expect to find on an early Telefon Tel Aviv album. ‘Gloom’ kicks things off, and does the opposite of what you’d expect, assembling tuff breaks around a clouded piano melody that’s more gilded than gloomy. James’ post-IDM drum programming lifts this one, augmenting Barzacchini’s warehouse-ready boom with acidic trills and beat-repeat jolts.

Elsewhere the collaboration takes more surprising turns: ‘Eternal’ is a clear highlight, twinning new agey synthesized chorals and pitch-bent FM plastique with concrete-shuddering hardstyle kicks, taking control in the middle section only to secede subtly and allow hazy piano into the mix. It’s this push-and-pull between light and dark, hard and soft, that makes “53” an enjoyable listen. James’ albums have often explored this territory, but usually outside of a club context. TSVI’s input makes tracks like the liquid D&B-flecked ‘Observe’ that much more molten.