DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ - Charmed Review

ASCENDING TO HEAVEN AS A TEENAGE DAMSEL

In her astoundingly-short career, DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ has already achieved the impossible; a pentalogy of irresistible House, woven through the guise of 90's television woes, taut and impassioned, at a whopping nine hours and 45 minutes. By my calculations, I have spent over 24 hours listening to DJ Sabrina since discovering her merely five weeks ago, an endurance test that has undoubtedly made me a better person. Uncompromisingly optimistic, blithely reassured, an effective ray of sunshine. At a stout three hours, Charmed acts as her coup de grâce. A send-off for the ages, one that celebrates notable memories while aiming sights high for the unforeseen future. Glorious samples both hopeful and disciplined, consequential and slice of life, intwine with mesmeric percussion and firecracker synthesizers for transcendent lengths that straddle the fine line between filling one's desire and yearning for more.

Where does one start with Charmed? At the beginning of course. 'Next To Me' sets the perfect tone, highlighting DJ Sabrina's greatest talents; longing samples, prom night amusement, and a progressive build that marries repetition with amplification. The curious transition into 'Charmed,' with intersecting interludes bridging notable events, finds yet another comparison point to The Avalanches; a clear influence on DJ Sabrina's over the moon musings. Sadly, this excursive style doesn't carry deep into the album's bowels, though development within Charmed's most ambitious cuts ('How Did You Know?,' 'Nothing's Gonna Stand In My Way,' 'My Baby, I Become Unhinged') is still incomparable to anything within modern House. Labor of loves typically don't last three hours, for passion wanes at one point or another. Not with DJ Sabrina, for these tireless moments are exhaustive, intricate, and consummate. 

This is where we find 'Charmed Life,' her greatest work. At an imposing 14 and a half minutes - 17 if we include the necessary and fateful prolusion 'Always Charmed' - it's confounding to the mind that, after everything that's come before (both on Charmed and DJ Sabrina's entire discography), something as life-affirming, rapturous, and edifying existing two hours and 36 minutes into a rather invariable House record stuns the mind and warms the soul. It is pure bliss; 'Charmed Life' and DJ Sabrina's wholehearted perseverance. An experience to lose oneself in, emerging teary-eyed and empowered at the idea of self-imposed triumph. A upper echelon achievement in all of Plunderphonics, sitting alongside Avalanches' 'Since I Left You,' DJ Shadow's 'Midnight In A Perfect World,' and Handsomeboy Technique's 'Your Blessings.'

What else does Charmed throw at the listener? For starters, a distinguished seven-track streak midway through, with maudlin liberation ('New Year's Resolution'), callbacks to past works for perceptive listeners ('Still Cool'), bedside chats turned uplifting solidarity ('How Did You Know?'), and somber pleas for mental safety ('Not Your Fault'). Elsewhere, simmering French House ('Pool Party'), electrifying Chillwave ('We're All Alone'), hilarious and well-equipped samples ('Alrighty, Then!'), and knotty turntable vocal splicing ('Eeeeyyyy') spice up DJ Sabrina's aesthetic with nuanced versatility and niche flashbacks. Then there's 'End Of An Era,' which fancies itself as the credit roll epilogue; theatrically-subdued and reflective in regards to a weighty past. Though it doesn't match the tone of DJ Sabrina's typical jubilation, the emphatic mood shift concludes Charmed by depleting all her variables, miring in the trenches of DJ Sprinkles' esteemed Deep House (Midtown 120 Blues) while simultaneously acting as an accede for relinquished control over a project whose ambitions, seemingly, up to this point, knew no bounds. Mark my words: With this pentalogy now complete, a Charmed capper as impressive in scope as it is in style, DJ Sabrina's repute will ascend to the status of novel cult classic. An icon in the making.