Huerco S. – Colonial Patterns (First Edition)

Label: Software – SFT037
Format: Black Vinyl, 2×12", Album, Limited Edition, Numbered [1457/2000]
Country: US
Released: 24 September 2013
Genre: Electronic
Style: Lo‑Fi, Experimental, House, Techno
Condition: Very Good+

A landmark debut LP by Huerco S. (Brian Leeds), Colonial Patterns unfolds as a textured journey through ambient-tinged, deconstructed house and techno rhythms. 

The first thing listeners will notice about Colonial Patterns is its dedication to ambience. Unlike Leeds’ previous releases, much of the hour-long album is beatless, bringing to mind the introspective depths of recent albums from Vessel and Actress. Unexpected it may be, but the new focus on ambience does not disappoint: the album’s textures are magnificent, its decayed sounds evoking a timeless sense of loss. From the woozy strings of menacing opener Struck With Deer Lungs to the subtle hues of Monks Mound (Arcology), many of the piece’s highlights play out melodies buried under static and distortion, left for the listener to unearth and interpret.

In a sense, it is these atmospheric sections which draw the purest parallel to Leeds’ colonial commentary. A proud Midwesterner, he talked engagingly in a recent interview about his homeland’s colonial context. Some of these ideas do come across in Colonial Patterns: by subjecting contemporary house and techno to the decay of music’s past, he provokes a convincing discourse on history’s susceptibility to manipulation. This is most clear on standout track Prinzif, where a veil of meditative ambience is abruptly parted, revealing the robust, colourful terrain buried – and far from dormant – beneath the surface.

Yet for all of this theoretical interpretation, some of the album’s ambient pieces still slip through the gaps, lost between stronger compositions and lacking the memorability of Leeds’ more beat-driven compositions. As a result, the likes of ‘Iińzhiid and Ragtime U.S.A. (Warning), providing not only clear beat patterns but transparent melody and vocals, constitute the album’s most focused, engaging moments. It’s a murky, sometimes alien trip through inversions of the dance music we know, yet Colonial Patterns excels in its ambiguity; genuinely thought-provoking and – when the clouds part – nakedly beautiful.

A1. Struck With Deer Lungs
A2. Plucked From The Ground, Towards The Sun
A3. Quivira
B1. Anagramme Of My Love
B2. 'Iińzhiid
B3. Ragtime U.S.A. [Warning]
C1. Monks Mound [Arcology]
C2. Prinzif
C3. Hopewell [Devil]
C4. Fortification III
D1. Skug Kommune
D2. Canticoy
D3. Chun‑Kee Player
D4. Angel [Phase]