Coyote - The Higher The Sky, The Deeper The Ocean

Back in 2022, Is It Balearic? Recordings founders Coyote (AKA long-serving producers Richard Hampson aka Ampo and Timm Sure) took time out from releasing music on their own labels to deliver a near perfect mini-album on Phil Cooper’s similarly minded NuNorthern Soul imprint, Everything Moves, Nothing Rests.

A superb exploration of their trademark sound, where gentle downtempo rhythms and nods to dub came cloaked in colourful ambient chords, sun-bright melodic motifs, organic instrumentation and quirky spoken word samples, Everything Moves, Nothing Rests deserved a sequel. So, three and a half years on, the duo has delivered just that: a fine six-track EP that offers an even deeper and more atmospheric exploration of their signature sound.

It is a sonic approach that should now be familiar to Balearic enthusiasts the world over. Aside from delivering a steady stream of singles, albums and remixes on their own imprint, Hampson and Sure have also showcased their skills and loved-up musical missives on International Feel, Music For Dreams, Needwant, MM Discos and Citizens of Vice.

The Higher The Sky, The Deeper The Ocean, their hotly anticipated NuNorthern Soul return, is named in honour of a quote from Pedro Alonso’s documentary series On the Ship of Enchantment, an extended voyage in which the Money Heist movie star meets healers and masters of ancestral medicine across his native Mexico.

There’s naturally a meditative and slightly psychedelic sound to much of The Higher The Sky, The Deeper The Ocean, which offers a subtly varied exploration of Coyote’s style and influence. Yearning, soft-focus opener ‘Muted Beauty’ – the kind of immersive, effects-laden and sample-sporting ambient bliss found nestling on Fila Brazillia albums of the mid 1990s – is followed by the similarly gentle ‘Go All The Way’, where delay-laden acoustic guitars, spoken word snippets and gaseous chords stretch out atop a languid, slow-motion groove.

‘A Drop in the Ocean’ picks up the pace a little via a glorious hat-tip to turn of the 90s ambient house – all dub-wise bass, heady deep house sonics, spaced-out chords and half-buried references to sunrise-ready Balearic synth-pop records of the late 1980s. Late psychedelic guru Terrence McKenna appears in sampled form on ‘Dolce Far Niente’, a tabla-driven drift and musical hallucination which conjures mental images of lying in the Mexican desert, gazing intently at a starry sky.

In contrast, ‘Riviera Sound’ is a chunkier, brighter and more sun-splashed affair – all deep, dubby bass, sustained piano parts, punchy downtempo breaks and the duo’s trademark ambient pads – while superb closing cut ‘No Coincidences’ fixes jazzy double bass samples, twinkling keyboard motifs, subtle acid lines and Latin-laced percussion to a street soul-adjacent beat.

Heady, impeccably crafted and thoroughly enveloping, The Higher The Sky, The Deeper The Ocean is Coyote at their dazzling best. It marks another significant chapter in their ever-evolving musical journey.

EARLY SUPPORT

Bruce Tantum, NYC, USA
‘Nicely languid gems from beginning to end - another NuNorthern Soul beauty’

Cole Odin, USA
‘Sweet sounds just in time for Spring!’

David Pickering, One Million Sunsets, Manchester, UK
‘A close call with ‘Riviera Sound’ and ‘Muted Beauty’ for my favourite. Going with the former as its a nice deviation from the typical Coyote Sound. Bring on the Summer!!!’

Dean ‘Sunshine’ Smith, Birmingham, UK
‘Back to that 90’s Cafe del Mar sound for Timm and Ampo for me. Love ‘Riviera Sound’. Good to see and hear chaps. Best of luck with it x’

Leo Mas, Italy
‘Great Album Coyotes ❤️’

Mark Broadbent, Word of Mouth Ibiza
‘Love this and love pretty much everything they do. These tracks remind me of early Buju Banton joints actually. Especially ‘Drop In The Ocean’ which has that ‘Bye Bye’ melody running through it… great works guys. Boom!’

Marshall Watson, USA
‘Coyote on NNS. What else is there to say really? ‘Muted Beauty’ reminds me of something from the 90s from Mixmaster Morris with bongos. Probably my favourite Coyote since ‘Song Dogs’. 100% full support.’

Mike Bee, Vinyl Dreams, San Francisco, USA
‘I can feel the heat coming off this - bring on summer!!!! Killer jams! Straight in the crate!’

Nick Warren, Bristol, UK
‘Such a lovely album, the guys on fine form.’

Steve KIW, Brighton Balearic Massive, UK
‘Coyote - still the dons - and I’m always excited to hear their new work. Love this, as I knew I would. Every track could be played out.’