HARD ISLANDS

'Hard Islands' is the assured and confident new installment from 25 year old Nathan Fake, the Norfolk born and bred precocious young heir to the UK electronica throne who has kept fans of fuzzy-edged synths and maximal acidic techno beats alike guessing ever since his debut release at the tender age of 19. A six track long serious contender in the loudness wars, 'Hard Islands' sets up camp in that fuzzy middle ground between mini-album and EP that so many of our alt-dance heroes are choosing to occupy in this lost-physical format era, where each track in the complementary collection can also stand alone as a hedonist's anthem in its own right. Easily as melodic and musically ambitious as any of his previous works, the 'Hard Islands' selection nonetheless edges towards the tougher end of electronica that is the usual domain of Warp and Rephlex stalwarts like Clark and Aphex Twin, whilst all the time never losing sight of that acute awareness of what will work on the dancefloor that had already enabled young Mr Fake to tick off many of the world's best clubs on his touring itinerary by the time he had reached his mid-twenties. šPlaying live a lot over the last couple of years has had a profound influence on the way I make music now,› says Nathan of his latest offering, and the unique loose-feeling, dynamic and finely-tuned sound that we hear on 'Hard Islands' is the product of that direct experience on the dancefloors of Europe. The tracks that make up this EP were absorbed into Nathan's club set at an early stage, where they were able to gradually evolve in the context of his live performance before finally being pinned down to this refined fixed recorded form for their official release. The hour long unstoppable industrial assault of the Nathan Fake laptop live show is a much more intense and visual experience than one has traditionally come to expect from the genre, and although recent support slots for Squarepusher and Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid have placed Nathan centre stage in the live arena, ultimately the immediacy of the interaction with the crowd that you get in a club environment remains of the utmost importance to him. 'The Turtle' pounds and bounces in equal measures to open the EP, constantly morphing as Nathan puts all of his trademark live edit tricks to very good use and streaks ahead of the monotonous minimal pack. 'Basic Mountain' is more pastoral in nature, an Aphex-esque sweep of synthy lushness with a magical chemical composition that will have you peaking at your office desk, bus stop, or whichever other mundane drug-free environment you choose to listen in. Equally edit-heavy bouncy Fake freakout 'Castle Rising' comes embellished with all the musical flourishes you might expect, before the 'The Curlew''s twisted backwards contrariness drifts in and kindly flips things upside down once more. The haunting, strung-out 'Narrier' briefly casts a darker light over proceedings, then gives way to the tough-edged industrial burblings of live monster 'Fentiger', wherein there lurks one final beautiful musical treat as the ultimate pay-off for that formidable punishing first impression. This new harder-edged Nathan Fake sound may seem like a rather dramatic departure to fans who know him only for the treasure trove of synth-rock gems of his 2006 debut album 'Drowning In A Sea Of Love' (and preceding psychedelic epic single 'The Sky Was Pink' - prior to that infamous radical dancefloor makeover care of main fan James Holden, of course!). But the evolution of Nathan's sound has been a smooth and natural process for him, gradually beefing up various album tracks to complement his emerging new material and thus enabling the logical swift side-step back into the techno clubs where he first made his name. Fans of Fake's earliest releases meanwhile - like the Boards-of-Canada-do-techno of debut single 'Outhouse', the thumping man's music of the 'Watlington St EP' (Saw), or the wide-ranging melodic intensity of his 'Dinamo EP' (Traum)  would do well to note that Fake's recent decision to resume his shirts-off exertions is underscored with the firm intention of pushing the European techno blueprint ever forward. Normal service has not so much been resumed, but rather infused with an increasingly musically ambitious cerebral edge and furnished with a reactive response loop mechanism that leaves it even more optimised for maximum dancefloor impact than before.