When it comes to music made in the more dance-infused realms, if you get the engine room firing smoothly, the rest falls into place, or at least falls into place more easily. And if you need me to provide an example of that idea at work, then “Self-Control,” the latest single from Leyla Romanova, sums such an ethic up brilliantly.
One listen to the single, and it will come as no surprise to find that she is a classically trained graduate of the Bulbul Music School in Baku, because although “Self-Control” is a groove-driven dance instrumental, it is much more elegant than the norm and more sonically eloquent than the competition. In short, it is cleverer than it needs to be, not just a cool dance track but one with added taste and sonic value.
It is a slow-burner, rising from brooding pulses and scattered beats, through shimmering pianoscapes and liquid sonics, into a dark dance-anthem of deep bass energy and beats that wander between the structured and the scattered… but purposefully and poignantly so. And so effortlessly and incrementally does it evolve that it is only in hindsight that you realize you have left those more delicate musical breezes behind you and are now dancing in the eye of an effervescent and euphoric hurricane.
Ironically, the music is inspired by the idea of not reacting to situations, to show restraint, and, as the title tells us, to exert self-control even in the most difficult of situations. And I say ironically because with the best will in the world, even with the strongest resolve, there is no way you won’t crack and find yourself moving to the song’s seductive and sublime charms.
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[…] is why Leyla Romanova’s remains so intriguing: her musicality and sense of adventure mean you never really know what […]