This Berlin-based duo cranks out soft, gelatinous beats with escapist melodies and warm synthetics. One of the fundamental functions of electronic music is to make you forget where you are so that you aren’t aware of the technical aspects of the recording. It’s hard for this type of music not to sound retro or even cliched, but as long as the positive after-effects outweigh the missteps, then you’ve got a record worth having. This EP is engaging if not slightly awkward, but it offers enough of a diversion from reality to warrant repeat listenings.

The repeat listenings prove fruitful as Hermann & Kleine inject much emotion into their saturated electronic utopia. The title track sounds jumbled at first with languid keyboard strokes undercutting the robotic, repetitive bass lines, but when the slightly aggressive beat kicks in it all seems to make sense. The song develops into this self-propelled vacuum of rustling space junk. Pristine tones shine through the haze to keep you from turning into a zombie while the loops fluctuate all around you. The reprise is like the eye of the storm- everything is clear and calm but not as mysterious.

“May In Fall” happens to you instead of around you. Without the beat it would be hard to discern between the previous songs, but the stuttering fills are so pronounced that they overtake the song. “My Friend Sam” sounds like a flashback sequence in a Hal Hartley film- very nostalgic and very serene. “Sitting Next To You” is the highlight of the EP. Familiar melodies float amongst stilted electro-patterns while the beats oscillate. The root notes bear a distant resemblance to the devastating quality inherent to Joy Division’s “Atmosphere”, but, again, the reprise fails to conjure the same feelings as its model.

This EP is far too short for me to recommend that you dig it up at all costs, but it does prove that Herrmann & Kleine are capable of exceptional things and you should look forward to a full-length album.