Herron - Arrange EP

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  • Terms like "minimal" and "lo-fi" are inadequate to describe Herron's music. It's not that they don't fit—it's just that the Mancunian smoothly evades the formulas that have congealed around them. As with the meandyou. label he co-runs, he's getting better at this as time goes on, and the Arrange EP pulls some particularly crafty moves. The panoramic finish of 2015's The Night Garden has been stripped away, leaving behind stark and brittle surfaces. Sometimes it's almost too bleak to take, as on "A6," whose hissing landscape is stalked by a keening synth lead and a voice pitched so low it sounds half-human. "Bad Timing" isn't much brighter, except for a bassline that bounces energetically against the desultory drums. That bass sound is trademark Herron: sludgy and detuned but with a satisfying bite. The rest of the record lets in the light. In its wonked pads and wayward Mr. Fingers bassline, "Recycle" recalls fringe Chicago operators like Ike Release. "Cold Hands" is sweeter thanks to pastel swirls of melody, and the drums are unusually sprightly. Herron's grooves tend to ooze rather than jack. We reach the cloistered heart of Herron's world on "Close." Gloomy pads glimmer over a near-supine 4/4, and the mood is sleepy but not exactly comfortable. Herron's music never is.
  • Tracklist
      A1 A6 A2 Bad Timing B1 Recycle B2 Cold Hands B3 Close
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