Electronic Sound July 2015 (Regular Edition) | Page 16

ALBUM REVIEWS

and the immersive and atmospheric.
‘The Shakes’ spans these two polarities
well, initially focusing on the “get up and
dance” clarion call to do something upon
listening to it – as stated in ‘Smart’, “You
might want to take some action”. Maybe
he’s hoping his record will indeed make
us take to the streets in outrage at our
unequal world.

HERBERT
The Shakes
ACCIDENTAL

A delicate balance of the danceable
and the cerebral from the inimitable
Matthew Herbert
Matthew Herbert’s first release of
dancefloor-oriented music in nine years
under the name Herbert opens like a
flood of sunshine with four seriously
confident, upbeat, kinetic cuts of
superlative deep house and disco. It is,
without wishing to sound cliched, as
though he had never been away.
Largely eschewing the conceptualism
for which he has become famous in
recent years, this is a very strong
contender for your favourite summer
album of 2015, being half supremely
soulful and intelligent house music, half
contemplative ambience. He explains this
as a kind of call to arms: “At a time when
inequality is rising to unprecedented
extremes and when the system we have
created is designed to destroy rather than
nurture, music’s propensity to noodle
inconclusively can seem unhelpful at
best.”
In the same breath, though, Herbert
claims he wants to make music that
“tenderises and engulfs” and find a
middle ground between the pro-active

‘Smart’ is the stand-out dance number
of the set. With a highly contagious
melody, an almost Latinate disco feel,
and fanfares of brass, it’s reminiscent of
Basement Jaxx’s ‘Samba Magic’ in its
sheer exuberance. It’s a real summer
anthem. In contrast to this comes the
more sedentary, or horizontal even, half
of the tracklist. ‘Silence’, which features
the sweetest vocal of Rahel DebebeDessalegne (who also sings on ‘Smart’),
is a particular highlight here. There are
echoes of John Cage in the title and in
the washes of sound in the background,
as lulling as amniotic fluid.

These descriptions might make Herbert
sound like a regular electronic talent and
interpreter of genre – which he is not.
For while he may have largely put aside
his conceptual leanings on ‘The Shakes’,
what perhaps has not been conveyed so
far is his original use of sound, texture
and timbre. Herbert is no straight-up
purveyor of deep house: there is always
an original flourish to his creations,
whether it’s using an industrial backdrop
to the soulful vocals of Ade Omotayo on
‘Battle’, or the sounds of used bullets and
shells bought from eBay employed on
‘Safety’, or utilising samples recorded at
protest marches in the UK on ‘Strong’.
Matthew Herbert is a true one-off. We
need his contribution to dance music at
the very least to make us think as well
as move our feet.
BETHAN COLE