The bar's been raised high for Philip Gamble, and it's almost entirely his own doing. Back in 2010, the UK producer who works as Girl Unit followed up "IRL", his debut single for the hip cross-continental poly-dance label Night Slugs, with an absolutely massive slab of electronic mania in the form of "Wut". Simultaneously frantic and spacious, with the kind of vocal hook that both burns itself into your brain and resists simple replication, "Wut" was six-and-a-half minutes of airhorn-slathered awesomeness that made the melodic tang of purple sound positively black by comparison. It was the type of single that didn't so much top year-end lists as it did absolutely wreck anything that came close to approaching its perch.

The single sounds as relevant now as it did in 2010, its all-everything-now sonic swarm and nods to Southern hip-hop rhythmic textures found in contemporary maximalist producers, from Araabmuzik to Rustie. It doesn't seem like a stretch to say that, in another five years, either everything or nothing will sound like "Wut". The official release was backed by two accompanying cuts of Bayhem, "Every Time" and "Showstoppa", both of which sounded like Twisted Metal elevated into real-life status, with gnarled car crashes and warehouse explosions tornadoing through speaker systems. The only thing more surprising than all of the carnage Gamble was capable of creating was the silence that followed, as he essentially took from then until now as a vacation, rather than capitalize on the considerable momentum that the "Wut" single rewarded him with.

One year and seven months after "Wut"'s release, Gamble's back with a new EP for Night Slugs, Club Rez, and with its arrival comes the inevitable question: Can he make lightning strike twice? The answer's complicated, since there really isn't one to be found. If Gamble's aware of the deserved hyperbole that his previous work's been awarded, he certainly isn't interested in showing his hand; neither a disappointment nor a promise delivered, Club Rez finds him largely abandoning the chaos of his previous releases and seeking out different sonic territory that's unfamiliar to both the Girl Unit project and Night Slugs' general oeuvre. Some might feel let down that there's nothing here that's as singular or sonically comparable as anything on his previous EP, but once the shock wears off, there's plenty to sink your teeth into regardless, especially if you have a solid pair of headphones to tap into the at-times lush landscapes Gamble's constructed here.

Club Rez certainly sounds like a new statement of purpose for Gamble, as he showcases his previously untapped melodic ability by presenting hooks that stand sturdily when not propped up within an ace DJ set. His affinity for color is largely in full form here, as evidenced by the techno-fused French Touch flourishes of "Ensemble (Club Mix)" and the distant screaming flares of "Rezday"; elsewhere, he proves more than adept at evoking atmosphere, from the 48 Hours shake of "Plaza" to the cavernous dance-mecca trance of the title track.

The EP's most surprising moment arrives in the form of "Double Take", which starts off as a drip-drop slice of steam-machinery beat math that characterized label mate Jam City's early NS singles, before blooming into the type of gorgeous, slow-riding R&B hook that nearly deserves separate designation from the track it's attached to. Given his documented proclivity for aural insanity, the amount of restraint that Gamble shows here is more than impressive and certainly speaks to the great promise his talent possesses. He manages to satiate his obsession for thousand-detail soundscaping while creating pieces that walk the line of sensory overload, never overwhelming but always blurring the edges.

Club Rez is something of a marking point for Night Slugs as a label, too. Many of the imprint's releases take on a blocky, club-functional sonic guise; Club Rez, on the other hand, not only roosts in the Night Slugs catalog's small club of relatively straightforward releases-- "Wut", L-Vis 1990's Forever You EP, Julio Bashmore and Hyetal's collaboration as Velour, The Velvet Collection-- but also stands out as one of the label's most accessible releases to date. Perhaps that's why the EP falters when Gamble turns out productions that are more traditionally Slugs-y, like the pounding metal intensity of "Cake Boss" or the skittering bass drops of the title track.

About "Club Rez": the single proper has been floating around for a while previous to this EP's release, most notably making an appearance near the end of label co-boss L-Vis 1990's BBC Essential Mix earlier this year. Hearing it in its shortened form, I hoped that there would be some sort of Big Release leading up to the track's handstamped trance motif, the kind of logical progression that such a melodic buildup usually demands. Perhaps the most disappointing thing about "Club Rez" is that there is no such release, but then Gamble clearly enjoys playing The Waiting Game, even if there are no winners in the end. Let this be an open plea, then, that we don't have to wait so long to hear from him again, if only because the weight of expectations can crush even the most solid follow-ups.