Upon listening to Mat Zo’s Damage Control again (newly re-minted in a recently issued 10 Year Anniversary Edition), it’s legitimately difficult to process that a decade has passed since it’s release first established its Britain-based producer as a force in electronic music. The album has a timeless quality to it; its spotless production and endlessly listenable blend of true-blue, classic EDM with the occasional pop flare truly sounds as fresh and contemporary today as ever. Nowhere is that effortless musicality more apparent than on “Only For You,” written in collaboration with vocalist (and producer in her own right) Rachel K Collier.
Instantly danceable and infectiously hooky, “Only For You” seamlessly transitions from a pulsating opening salvo into an ever-so-lightly subdued verse held aloft by Collier’s soulful vocal work. Mat Zo employs his signature ear for subtlety and dynamic tension throughout. “Only For You” ebbs and flows in waves, plunging into total submersion in the tension of a washed out pre-chorus, cresting back on the impetus of Collier’s serenade to the chorus proper, and flowing back and forth before finally breaking on a re-invigorated bassline delivering one last melodic thrill before the fade.
While contending with staple album-mates like “Superman Lost” or “Easy” (each more than worthy of consideration in their own right) for primacy, its on “Only For You” that Damage Control most readily proves its creators’ brilliance in crafting delightfully sonorous, irresistibly sleek, deceptively expressive EDM.