Belgian electronic duo VUURWERK have been enjoying a spate of recent success over the past year, with plenty of blog praise, major festival slots, a tour around Europe and North Africa and making remixes for Bon Iver, Poliça, Balthazar to name a few. It’s about time that the pair of Thieu and Jergen returned to their creative hub in London, with the aim to introduce different genres, backgrounds and influences to their sound. The first release from this collaborative project is a track called ‘Face It’, featuring London-born vocalist Khazali. For a full five minutes, VUURWERK takes us on a voyage of electronic excellence that is easily comparable to the perfection of Jungle. Salem Khazali’s luxurious vocals are the force behind repeated lyrics and audible exclamation marks that emphasise the feverish dance rhythms, jazzy horns and inextricably deep meaning of the track. Considering that this outfit is run by a Psychiatrist and Psychologist, it’s no wonder that every sonic choice is made with cognitive purpose, as Thieu explains: “Face It’ is a song about finding yourself through others, the interplay of ego’s, expectations and the projection of our own feeling on the people we relate to. It’s about how the people we love show us our dark side. But also about a paradoxical sense of personal growth and development during the breakdown of a relationship.” Perhaps the reason that ‘Face It’ sounds so dense with self-awareness is down to Khazali’s participation, who VUURWERK lovingly refer to as their “inner voice.” As well as a stunning audio, ‘Face It’ also arrived as a Kill Bill-esque video, which we could spend hours piecing apart, but that would perhaps be a little too self-indulgent and we’re sure that each watcher will have their own reading of this fascinating, multi-layered mini-film. - HT