Whatever musical fads and scenes have come and gone over the past decade or two, whatever trends have gone from being cooler-than-thou to being passe just a few months later, folktronica has always been there just bubbling away in the background. It's never been overly hyped, it's never been amped-up or commercialised, and therefore it's never really lost any credibility. As a genre it's retained its integrity and retained its fanbase. It's most well known proponent, Four Tet, is still a staple of festivals and his records are always met with warm critical affection, but there are newer artists coming through who are also blessed with similar talent and ideas. Two people of note to keep an ear out for are PRDCTV and Quiet Sun.
'Flicker & Fade' is the second release from UK producer Quiet Sun (real name Jack Hyde), following his 'Three Colors White' EP last summer. Here again he ventures into a dreamworld of spacious sonics and ticking beats, making the electronic almost seem like living and breathing life-forms, particularly on the ace 'Blue Dots'. The ghostly strings make 'Conflate' seem especially ethereal when they're met with chunkier beats, signifying a union between the painfully fragile and the more robust sounds. To be critical you could say that the four songs offer little variety, but that's not the point. The idea here is to put together four tracks that fit like the pieces of a puzzle to make a complete picture. Too much variation and it could end up messy, as it is, 'Flicker & Fade' achieves what it set out to do with apparent ease.
Quiet Sun's website
Stream or buy the EP
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