Nathan Fake ‘Hard Islands’
Our Norfolk born and bred heir to the UK electronica throne returns with an assured and confident hard-edged new collection: an expertly crafted, finely-tuned and refreshingly cliche-free way to work a crowd into a frenzy as only Mr Nathan Fake knows how.
Easily as melodic and musically ambitious as any of Fake’s previous works, the ‘Hard Islands’ selection edges towards the tougher end of electronica, whilst all the time never losing sight of that acute awareness of what will work on the dancefloor that is a key component of his devastating live shows. ‘The Turtle’ pounds and bounces in equal measures, constantly morphing as Nathan puts all of his trademark live edit tricks to very good use. ‘Basic Mountain’ is more pastoral in nature, an Aphex-esque sweep of synthy lushness with a magical chemical composition to induce guaranteed drug-free highs.
Equally edit-heavy bouncy Fake freakout ‘Castle Rising’ comes embellished with all the musical flourishes you might expect, before the ‘The Curlew”s twisted backwards contrariness drifts in and kindly flips things upside down once more. The haunting, strung-out ‘Narrier’ briefly casts a darker light over proceedings, giving way to the tough-edged industrial burblings of live monster ‘Fentiger’, wherein there lurks one final beautiful musical treat as the ultimate pay-off for that formidable punishing first impression. Normal service has not so much been resumed, but rather infused with an increasingly musically ambitious cerebral edge and furnished with a reactive response loop mechanism that leaves it even more optimised for maximum dancefloor impact than ever before.
Buy ‘Hard Islands’ final vinyl copies ever here. ‘Hard Islands’ on CD available from Amazon
