A Static Pulse: Inside DJ Tennis and M-High’s ‘Cold Hands’ [Review]

Photo by: Becks Lange / @_negativeclub

DJ Tennis steps behind the mic on Cold Hands, his new collaboration with M-High, arriving as Life and Death celebrates its 15th anniversary. The Italo Mix is the clearest entry point: a classic kick-and-snare pattern, punctuated by an especially sharp, prominent snare, establishes the track’s foundation, while a subtle arpeggiated lead carries its pulse. As euphoric synths gradually build around it, the track takes on a hazy, almost melancholic lift and a distinctly new wave sensibility without sacrificing its physical drive. It also feels especially timely with Italo recently being added as an Indie Dance sub-genre on Beatport, a fitting acknowledgment of how deeply that sound runs through the genre’s DNA.

That sense of lineage becomes even more interesting in light of how Tennis has described influence itself: as a form of memory – emotions, experiences, and sounds archived internally before resurfacing years later in transformed form. That idea feels particularly relevant here, given the striking echo of Röyksopp’s “What Else Is There?” in two distinct elements: the cadence of the vocal hook, and the phrase carried by the synth pads, which mirrors the guitar line in the original. Given Tennis’ recent remix of the song, the resemblance feels less like coincidence than a melody lingering in the bloodstream.

At its core, “Cold Hands” lives in the uneasy space between human sensation and technological decay. Lyrics like “a static pulse, a fault within the line,” “the screens are choking, slow decline,” and “cold hands measure time that isn’t mine”  blur the distinction between body and machine: pulses turn to static, screens seem to suffocate, and “cold hands”evoke the mechanical hands of a clock. Technology feels strangely alive while the person inside it becomes increasingly detached from their own sense of time. The repeated hook “Something moves but never arrives / Something stays but never survives” becomes the emotional anchor, capturing a state of suspended motion and quiet collapse.

That tension extends into the artwork. With his back turned to us, a figure in a black leather jacket faces a painting of Egon Schiele-like intertwined bodies while gripping what appears to be a portable cassette recorder. The object feels particularly loaded in light of Tennis’ roots in punk-era cassette and VHS trading, when physical recordings functioned as vessels for music, memory and underground culture. Set against the vulnerability of exposed flesh, the machine reflects a contradiction that has followed his work for decades: technology and humanity, embodied experience and mediation, futurism and decay.

Delivered across Italo, House, and Electro mixes, “Cold Hands” feels less like a single statement than three perspectives on the same unsettling idea. Arriving in Life and Death’s milestone year, it feels especially fitting: one of the label’s newest names joining its founder on a track that looks backward aesthetically while remaining firmly built for today’s dance floors.

DJ Tennis & M-High's Cold Hands is out now via Life and Death.

Get it on Beatport.