Bleep

There’s something in the water in Denmark, and this debut release by Hekt on Numbers is a chance to drink deeply from that well. Out 22 March 2024, Lens is a cranium-shaking introduction to Hekt’s pristine and playful production palette, with six club tracks that pair walloping sound design and shifty songwriting to blow minds and speakers alike.

Hekt is Danish multimedia artist Jesper Nørbæk, who previously released music as a member of the duo Code Walk for labels like Peder Mannerfelt Produktion and London’s Ex-Local. Part of Copenhagen’s thriving experimental electronic music community, Hekt has mixed records for the likes of Smerz and Ingrate, and performed at venues ranging from the Statens Museum of Kunst to Culture Box and Corsica Studios. On Lens, his music ricochets between peak-time electronic music and sound art to achieve the best of both worlds – quirky and serious, entertaining and confounding, funky and freaky.

The propulsive energies and sharp arrangements on Lens are redirected by the presence of vocalists like prior collaborators Smerz – the Norwegian duo of Henriette Motzfeldt and Catharina Stoltenberg, sampled by Overmono on “Good Lies” and whose recent Allina EP was mixed by Hekt – and the inimitable acrobatics of legendary American ballroom commentator Kevin JZ Prodigy, who appeared with Beyoncé on “Pure/Honey” from Renaissance and has performed with both Beyoncé and Madonna on their recent world tours. Smerz contribute an earworm chorus and mischievous coos on “ID,” while Prodigy’s commanding presence elevates the wriggle of “Sync.” But whether vocal-led or instrumental, these tracks are tactile and authoritative, oscillating between the serious and the silly as they connect the dots between cybernetic techno, conceptual computer music, and stadium-scale electronics.

“Lean” is a cutting opening volley that feels like the scientific counterpart to a sludgy Screw mixtape. Those hard edges are softened on “ID”, as Smerz delivers a series of casually sassy exclamations and rejections. “Main Tab” erupts and accelerates through lurid, laser-focused elements to raucous and relentless effect. After the burbling half-time groove of “Setup,” Hekt’s facility with vocals shines again on “Sync.” Kevin JZ Prodigy’s performance is momentous and frantic, bringing a shapeshifting command in the chorus to boiling point, and “Rip” isn’t a soft landing after that so much as a relaunch into switchblade 4/4 techno. It’s another stunning, widescreen moment from a futuristic, boundary-pushing artist – a lens into Hekt’s distinct sonic world, with plenty more still to come.