Bleep

On Blizzards, his first LP since 2017’s Providence, Nathan Fake skirts the borders of IDM, techno and rave revivalism. There is a notable amount of shared ground between Blizzards and recent records such as Daniel Avery’s Song For Alpha, Jacques Greene’s Dawn Chorus and Lapalux’s Amnioverse. As is the case on those albums, Fake employs a kind of hazy reimagining of early rave and 90s club sonics here to create a halcyon club trip at once utopian and wistful. Tracks often employ rolling breaks and bright, reverb-drenched keys to hit great emotional heights - see how ‘Pentiamonds’ and ‘Eris & Dysnomia’ spiral into the stratosphere in near-ecstatic reveries.

Mind you, Fake’s music has always been characterized by a willingness to experiment, and this sensibility can be detected again throughout Blizzards. While the soundworld may be the same as on those aforementioned LPs, Fake takes risks here that set him apart from that particular crowd. This is apparent from the very first moment of opening cut ‘Cry Me A Blizzard’, a track in which breakbeats hypnotically shift in and out of sync with an insistent kick-drum. Blizzard’s mid-section also sees fake channeling the boundary-pushing energy of early Rephlex and Planet Mu.

Nathan Fake holds rose-tinted revivalism, experimental energy and club heft in balance on his new LP Blizzards.