Bicep - Isles UHD (2021 - Elettronica) [Flac 24-44]
Hopefully a decent proportion of London’s clubbers got to see the Design Museum’s Electronic exhibition before lockdown closed it again. Alongside the story of dance music’s biggest names, such as The Chemical Brothers and Kraftwerk, there’s a video, directed by Joe Wilson, accompanying Bicep’s song Glue. Despite being made in 2017, it seems to sum up current circumstances with startling accuracy.
It’s a set of raver reminiscences, harvested from the comments beneath old songs on YouTube, interspersed with shots of the sites of raves past: car parks, warehouses, woodland clearings, all now empty of human life. Even lines such as “Travelling to Leicester in the boot of my mate’s Orion off my box with only four cans of Stella” sound eerily moving in these barren surroundings.
Matt McBriar and Andy Ferguson’s past year has been pretty vacant too. They should have been playing two nights at Brixton Academy, first in March, postponed and cancelled again in August 2020, as highlights of a busy touring schedule that also would have included a headline slot at north London’s Field Day festival. The Belfast-raised, London-based schoolfriends are one of dance music’s biggest breakthrough acts – their self-titled debut was clubbing bible Mixmag’s album of 2017 – which leaves them with a problem. How far should they go to adapt for home listening on the follow-up?
While cerebral techno producer Jon Hopkins decided this was the right time to share a 24-hour Spotify playlist called “Quiet”, including his own 20-minute meditation piece Singing Bowl (Ascension), Bicep’s 10 new songs are complex enough to keep headphone listeners interested but far from passive. “The live version will be much, much harder,” McBriar has promised, yet the breakbeats still kick with considerable heft beneath the metallic drones of X and what sounds like a call to prayer on Atlas.
They’ve added a bit more focus this time around with some original, rather than sampled, vocals, but not for them a Disclosure-style chorus line of star guests. Underground singer-producer Clara La San adds her soft, breathy voice as a sweet contrast to the jittery rhythms of Saku. Nor do they go near the verse-chorus structure of dance-pop or the build-ups and breakdowns of more obvious club productions. Sounds are layered on top of each other in absorbing style – melancholy, not euphoric, but still brimming with restless energy. One day we’ll hear these songs as they should truly be experienced, but this will do very nicely for now.
Bicep - Isles UHD
Tracklist:
CD1
1. Bicep - Atlas
2. Bicep - Cazenove
3. Bicep - Apricots
4. Bicep - Saku
5. Bicep - Lido
6. Bicep - X
7. Bicep - Rever
8. Bicep - Sundial
9. Bicep - Fir
10. Bicep - Hawk
Playing Time.........: 49:26
Total Size...........: 523,49 MB