Artist: Fort Romeau Title: SW9 Genre: Deep House, Techno Label: Spectral Sound Quality: 320 kbps London-based producer Mike Norris, aka Fort Romeau, makes his Spectral Sound debut with the single “SW9.” It’s a warm and affectionate take on the sound of Chicago house, mixing thick analog pad sounds with a 4/4 kick that’s insistent without ever being overpowering, skittering hi-hat sounds and an beautifully uplifting vocal sample. Wings Of Prey. The production is lush and multi-layered, giving the track a warmth that’s absent from so much of contemporary dance music. “SW9” is Norris’s first release since his debut album Kingdoms, which came out last year on most excellent LA-based alt-dance label 100%% Silk. Computer Hardware Software And Peopleware Of Computer here. Crash Crash Rattle Rattle Beep Beep here. Both Kingdoms and “SW9” reflect a deep love for a sound that Norris discovered at 18 and embraced wholeheartedly: “I think it’s really important, if you’re in the business of using samples, which I think nearly everyone is, to use them as ways of adding in history and subconscious reference points,” Norris told Spin last year. “That’s a really interesting aspect of music: you have this ability to take something from the past and put it in the present.” This idea illuminates all of Norris’s production work as a whole, Kingdoms was a beautifully-executed love letter to the sound of classic house music, and “SW9” is the next step in Norris’s exploration of the sounds of the genre’s glory days.