Horror Inc - Briefly Eternal

Label: Perlon

While many producers conform to prevailing trends, whether consciously or not, there are always others who cannot help but occupy a space outside of ‘what’s cool’. Today’s house scene values two distinct styles: big-room and lo-fi, and anything else is less likely to attract attention. So Briefly Eternal, the new album by Canadian Marc Leclair, has received relatively little press since its release in July. Yet to ignore this album would be a crying shame: for here Leclair, better known as pioneering house producer Akufen, dusts off his melodic Horror Inc alias for a remarkably accomplished album. Briefly Eternal nestles right into Perlon’s minimal catalogue, a tasteful journey through cinematic house-craft, packed with beautiful instrumental samples and drama to spare.

These extended samples are really what makes this release stand out. We know that Leclair is a highly accomplished producer who can edit drums with microscopic precision, but it’s rare that he has allowed a fuller sense of musicality to emerge in his music. On Briefly Eternal his compositional ability is allowed to shine out, as 4/4s and breakbeats pave the way for lush instrumental samples, from double bass to keys to saxophone, which instil each composition with a richly textured, twilit beauty.

Album Clips

The album is loosely mixed, each track coming to a clear conclusion yet still blending rather seamlessly into the next, thanks to a continued drum pattern or melodic flourish. It all comes across like the score to a film set in an old manor house, the music shifting subtly as you move from the candle-lit drawing room to the garden at dusk. One thing which ensures this intimacy between listener and instrumentation is the fidelity of the recording: Leclair’s samples have the subtle textures of a live performance, as fine details within the sound emerge organically across the recording. Opener Phowa is a perfect example of the involving nature of Leclair’s sound – nearly four minutes of taut ambience and canny samples suddenly give on to a clattering breakbeat, a dramatic shift which makes the drowned chords and bass riffs stand out all the more, suddenly gifted a driving momentum.

There’s something of parlour music to this release, yet attributing the samples, or even the album itself to particular point in musical history would be futile. There’s a timelessness present in Horror Inc’s productions, made clear by the fact that the twinkling suite from Dans La Nuit to The Sentinel was all previously released on Horror Inc EPs. It speaks volumes that with only a few subtle re-adjustments the tracks not only fluidly cohere with the newer material, but that they actually make up its most compelling musical sequence.

While a lot of the album’s sounds and textures are re-explored throughout Briefly Eternal, almost every track holds something new for the listener, whether it be the unexpected jazz chords at the close of Mourning or the brief vocal, perfectly placed in I Can’t Look At You. Yet Briefly Eternal works best as a whole, listened to from start to finish, a triumph of extraordinary precision and restrained soulfulness which proves deeply rewarding over repeated listens.

As with any work, there are complaints which could be levelled at Briefly Eternal. Perhaps it leans a little to heavily on a familiar sound-palette, but when the music is processed and arranged so beautifully it’s hard to care. There’s a distinct quality of emotional restraint here, the sentiments of the album are kept at a distance. This proves to be one of its strongest assets – in an age where every producer wants to reach out and touch the hearts of its audience, Leclair’s latest sits there, confident in its quiet quality and impeccable taste, waiting for you to come to it.

7.5/10

The Mole - A History of Dates

Label: Perlon

The ultra-minimal vogue of Perlon's early days may have faded, but the label is far from dead. Now Canadian producer Colin de la Plante, aka The Mole, can join the likes of San Proper and Ricardo Villalobos charting the label’s finest output over the last half-decade. Known just as much for his impressive mixing abilities as for his dance releases, The Mole has moved between Canada and Berlin over the past few years, keeping a relatively low profile befitting his tastefully subtle output. For A History of Dates he has come up trumps, issuing a pair of sophisticated house cuts backed by a scene-stealing remix courtesy of American DJ Sprinkles.

The title track perfectly exhibits The Mole’s production prowess, as he conjures a relaxed arrangement of filtered vocal snatches and atmospherics over textured percussion and a deep, wandering bassline. Despite the degree of finesse to the composition, listeners will not be left wanting for a groove, as a sturdy 4/4 underpins the shifting array of synth blips and ambient details. On the flipside Lockdown Party is a more upbeat number, where a collage of samples from children’s chants to wolf cries are shot through a field of bristling percussion and rippling synth melodies.

Both tracks are sure to hit home for fans of house’s hypnagogic extremities, rich as they are in both repetition and detail, yet The Mole offers little structural progression to speak of – it’s more loft party than warehouse rave. Perlon’s surprising coup in its choice of remixers destroys any such boundaries, as DJ Sprinkles offers a remix of Lockdown Party that, for better or worse, utterly outshines the two original offerings. Terre Thaemlitz, known just as much for his ambient and written work as for his great house releases as DJ Sprinkles, more than doubles the track length in his aptly titled ‘Crossfaderama’.

Taking the vocal chant as a melodic core, Sprinkles turns out a jam-style epic, leaning heavily on the crossfader and incorporating a few surprise samples in the process (does anyone else hear the opening bar of house classic Can You Feel It?) The remix also suffuses the original with a real sense of momentum, ebbing and lulling right up until the cosmic synth wash of its finale. As a whole History of Dates ranks among Perlon’s finest recent releases; The Mole’s refined house cuts will surely be a draw for some, and DJ Sprinkles’ phenomenal remix makes for a particularly enticing package.

7/10