Portugal’s Li-Polymer makes his debut on Sudbeat with two fantastic exemplars of his sound.

Li-Polymer is a master of unpretentious, understated, quietly emotional progressive house, and both tracks on offer here very much play to those strengths. ‘Physic’ hits the right balance between deep atmospherics and body-shaking sounds from the off, with breathy vocals and subtle motifs meeting robust percussion. Dubby chimes and trippy synth lines take the track up a level, before a brief breakdown calls up sparse but wicked bass pulses. Dreamy strings carry the track into a beautiful, introspective breakdown, creating a hazy moment before the track’s outstanding finale, where Li-Polymer lets the bass spar with abstract chiming melodies. On the flipside, ‘Laurissilva’ sees Li-Polymer conjure up another heady progressive vibe, with a low-slung bassline and sleazy stabs setting the stage for airy melodies and whispy pads that come to the fore for the track’s brief breakdown, leading to a cool drop. It’s definitely not as strong as ‘Physic’, but it’ll keep any dancefloor locked.

As we’ve come to expect from Li-Polymer, this release is intelligent and well-crafted, and manages to play with the listener’s emotions without ever losing sight of the dancefloor. This is excellent.