Finn McCorry

As the opening track of ‘The New Reprise’ shudders and grinds to a halt, whilst a whispering female voice welcomes you to his ‘fairy world’, the very real sense of trepidation you feel embarking on your journey into the mind of Lucid is a surprising and unfamiliar sensation in the world of dance music. As each track on this EP shakes and teases you out of your comfort zone, it’s this subtle disconnect from reality that allows one of the most exciting and dynamic explorations of sound seen this year. Here is the product of a young producer truly loudly coming into his own, confidently creating and filling an entire new area without rule, reason or restriction.

Released on bass heavyweights Nightshifters, this latest offering follows in the footsteps of Canblaster’s seminal ‘Master Of Complication’ EP the label saw earlier this year; the detail and intricacy of these tracks are definitely reminiscent of the hyperactive intelligently produced sound Club Cheval have been doing so brilliantly. The brooding, bouncy Sam Tiba remix of Shh boldly bridges this gap. However, whilst a little closer to the norm than his ‘Thy Lucid’ release earlier this year, you’d still be hard pressed to find an artist worthy of comparison outside of his immediate peer group; only Pelican Fly boss Richelle is really producing music of a similar tone and nature presently, but his emphasis on stronger, twisted melodies and slightly more traditional use of percussion undoubtedly give his productions a more linear progression.

Those of you familiar with his work will already know roughly what to expect; a cavernous space almost devoid of melody, punctuated by a mass of destructive kicks and claps. To those unfamiliar with his work, like so much of today’s creative and interesting production Lucid’s music defies description. The only pre-established genre that might properly encompass his sound would be ‘bass music’, a frequency he’s undoubtedly explored hugely up till this point. But to group all of what Lucid is doing under such a simple term would be a disservice; there is so much more to this release than it’s impact at the low frequencies.

One of my favourite things about Lucid is the sheer amount of noise and depth of sound he manages to pack into his productions; ‘Thy’ earlier in the year was an amazing and intimidating mass of clicks, chimes and tortured voices pinned together by sparse, frenzied percussion. Jumbo is another perfect example of this calculated confusion he creates so well, almost overwhelmingly hectic snares climbing from the beginning of the track only to give way to some of the most hard hitting kicks I’ve ever heard. Lucid’s genius is in his ability to throw you out of your comfort zone then suddenly thrust you back, the sudden exciting realisation of what he’s been building exploding into movement and energy.

He’s described this effort as a more ‘club’ sound than usual; it’s definitely the consistently huge basslines that pin each of these tracks down that allows the EP it’s dance floor appeal but Lucid does so without sacrificing any of his characteristic weirdness that makes the record so interesting. However, a sense of immediacy and attack that has been missing from his previous endeavours also emphasises this intention. There’s something deeply aggressive about Lucid’s approach to creating dance records; each drum hit and sound really explodes out of the mix with an assertion that doesn’t allow a moments rest to the listener. The unforgiving war-drums holding down Togo’s enormous, warlike siren climax almost force you to nod your head and screw up your face, Drung flings it’s kicks towards you with unrelenting energy, whilst Shh is left to pound it’s formidable bass stabs straight into your head. Each track on this EP manages to make you move without letting you know how it’s done so; the unpredictable and abstract manner in which these tracks control a dance floor is what makes them so devastating in a DJ’s arsenal.

Like so many other producers today, Lucid is producing inside a style without a name. His work delights in sitting right between pre-existing sounds and styles, borrowing influence and aesthetic without discrimination or reservation. It’s this diverse marriage of sounds that’s led to some of the most captivating and exciting club music of the last few years, but Lucid’s taken it a step further. By definition a reprise by is the reimagining of a pre-existing work, and whilst this EP certainly shares common ground with the likes of Kingdom, Pearson Sound and Addison Groove’s homage to ghetto house from across the waters, Lucid takes these sounds and pushes them into a different context entirely. Not content with simply appropriating and reinterpreting genre, ‘The New Reprise’ creates an entirely new way to present them.

In a climate where every creative production is quickly labelled ‘future’ and ‘post’ genre I’m reluctant to label Lucid’s sound as such, but as one of the most fearlessly forward thinking and well produced records of the year it would be impossible to avoid; the creativity and skill demonstrated here predicts big things ahead in more ways than one.

Posted December 4, 2011 at 9:47pm

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