- Thanks to producers like Redshape, SNTS and Rivet, techno isn't short of masked figures. Even so, Headless Horseman might be the most theatrical to emerge in recent years. The tasseled veil serves a practical purpose, allowing the artist to focus on the performance and the audience to focus on the music. "One could see this as a method of detaching from the surroundings, or as a way of tapping into a greater sense of hearing," he told me. Anyone listening intently will discover the hidden depths of the Horseman's music.
Storytelling through music is the Horseman's driving force. The project was inspired by a piece of 19th century speculative fiction, and conveys its own fantastical narrative in its track titles and compositions, culminating in 2015's cinematic and emotionally charged album, HDL007. The Horseman joined Tommy Four Seven's 47 camp since then, and 47014 is his galloping follow-up to a shadowy four-track EP that came out on the label last year.
"Revelation" is an industrial melodrama with some interesting details, but it comes across a little heavy-handed. The sledgehammer kicks and distorted drums create a quasi-monstrous effect, detracting from the gothic Horseman timbres swirling in the background. "Concussion" makes better use of Horseman tropes, especially his knack for groove, broken drum patterns and mood. The driving "Locust" stirs some of the EP's most curious sound design into an ever-intensifying vortex, while "Gravity" slows down to instil lasting terrors with jarring synth patterns. 47014 isn't the Horseman's best "ride" (see his earlier self-released stuff) but it's still a formidable set of hallucinatory industrial techno.
TracklistA1 Revelation
A2 Concussion
B1 Locust
B2 Gravity