Staff Reviews

Nathan Fake - Hard Islands

Review by William Grant

As ‘The Turtle’ - first track on second album Hard Islands - signifies, it’s misnomers that seem to be the order du jour on Drowning In A Sea of Love's successor. The title may initially create the image of some sort of ‘slow and steady wins the race’ fable, but the track itself couldn’t be further from that. It is incredibly heavy – definitely more in tune with his live performance than his production work ala ‘Drowning... The arrangement of each track works around this heaviness, while the dehumanised clapping, maraca sounds and the live tweaks give the arrangement of each track a human feeling. »

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'hard islands' edges towards the tougher end of electronica occupied by warp and rephlex stalwarts clark and aphex twin, where spine-tingling melody meets fake's acute awareness of what works on the dancefloor. 'hard islands' showcases a tougher, more grown-up sound than his hugely successful 'drowning in a sea of love' debut, as nathan fake continues to mature in perfect step with britain's youthful new wave of danceable electronica. each track can function as a hedonist's anthem in its own right, optimised for maximum dancefloor impact after evolving gradually in the context of fake's intense live club set.
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