2562

Considering that his first couple of 12”s for Tectonic had a certain underlying grubbiness lurking amongst the undeniable sheen, 2562’s later work, such as the ‘Aerial’ album and remixes for the likes of TVO and Shed, were utterly clinical at times. Whilst the pristine direction was undeniably fresh at the time, it swiftly mutated into an omnipresent strand of the dubstep sound, and in truth those who were fascinated by the turn he had taken were already looking for another arresting shift in outlook.

That certainly seems to arrive with ‘Unbalance’. Was it a deliberate move? “It was clear from the start; it’s almost a contra-reaction,” says the affable Dutchman. “I had put so much time and effort into finalising ‘Aerial’ that at the end I was sick of it and needed to do something very different.”

It was an attitude that started early: “I started working on what would become album material even before ‘Aerial’ was released, but it really started coming together this spring when I took a couple of months off to fully dedicate myself to it. I went back to my production roots of sampling old records and making new sounds out of them as the main building blocks for composing.”

In a perverse way, it almost seems as if Huismans is regressing in terms of influence as well - the turn of the century 2-step hints remain, but are perhaps less obvious in a contemporary musical landscape saturated by the UK funky aesthetic. Instead, what titillates are the blue sounding synth lines, which call to mind late-Nineties techno and electro as well as a kind of louche Herbie Hancock pungency. Delicate filters and gated lead lines intertwine with druggy reverb and crushed 505 hi-hats on ‘Love In Outer Space’, placing one foot in the past while the other roots very much in the present.

“I’ve mostly listened to house and old music recently, especially late-’70s/early-’80s soul and disco. Being so caught up making electronic music and playing it out every weekend, I often prefer to hear something else when I have time to actually listen to music. A particular inspiration has been Arthur Russell, but also people like Leroy Burgess and Prince.”

It shows. ‘Unbalance’ is a more human, more rounded artefact than its predecessor, which was justly lauded as “glacial” upon release; this turned out to be faint praise for a record that, for all its many strengths, was sometimes one-dimensional and hard to truly connect with.

Although the material could never be accused of carrying any pretensions towards the wonky hip hop style du jour - percussion is still militantly metered, for example - there’s a sense that perhaps the morés which have come to prominence in Mike Slott, Karriem Riggins et al have traveled through the public consciousness towards Huismans’ Netherlands studio, particularly on the superb ‘Who Are You Fooling?’. Chords are brighter than their frosty antecedents, the structure seems a little looser, and there’s even some trademark pitch fuckery to boot.

There’s also a suggestion that the “you need to hear it on a big system” side to his work - the booming subs which stop it being just fast experimental techno a la older Plaid or As One - has been fleshed out a little. 16bit wobble-step this ain’t, but there’s a little more fat around the gills here, particularly on the square bass of ‘Like A Dream’, and as such it’s a truer representation of his estimable DJ sets - powerful and meaningful at the same time. That’s quite a balancing act.

Words by Dave Marcia