HØST: The Man With A Thousand Eyes EP
Plasma
South London-based beatmaker HØST brings a strong skill-set to this five-track EP, the material showcasing deft, lo-fi fusions of hip-hop, garage, and broken beat. Though he's associated with drum'n'bass, the material shows little overlap with the genre in its more ferocious form, the fifteen-minute release instead emphasizing curdling, atmospheric beatscapes.
The opening “Pull Up, Badman” oozes major bass weight as it effects an industrial-infected crawl through an oppressive realm. A snappy pulse lends the piece a collapsing, end-of-the-world vibe, with garbled vocal effects and writhing synth flourishes adding to the blaze. Unspooling as slowly, the deeply atmospheric “Herbedacious” is as woozy as its druggy title promises, while the closing “The Man With A Thousand Eyes” packs no shortage of mesmerizing sounds into its lean, two-minute frame. An arresting voice sample swims through the mix, with the cut rendered all the more ear-catching for the inclusion of burbling bass throb and other scenic details.
A couple of vocal productions add to the mayhem. With Gear's cryptic verses folded into HØST's vaguely Middle Eastern-inflected design, “Disingenuous” calls to mind similar daze stoked by Kode 9 and Spaceape on 2006's Memories of the Future. “Creep” is nicely distinguished by its tribal groove and trippy melodic figure but is also weakened by a too-cartoonish vocal treatment. That's a small miscue on an EP that otherwise features imagination and skills in plentiful supply.December 2020