- Colonial Patterns was a weighty debut album from Huerco S. in 2013, capturing the spirit of a certain grubby movement in US dance music better than most. Such records often precede a lull in activity as an artist works out where to go next, and Huerco has put out just two EPs since, both on Anthony Naples' Proibito. The ghostly techno of last year's A Verdigris Reader displayed new focus and restraint. Its follow-up, Railroad Blues, goes even further, resulting in a set of long-form pieces falling somewhere between Basic Channel and shoegaze's blurry bliss. Whatever new sound Huerco is patiently excavating, he seems well on his way to uncovering it.
The EP gets progressively mellower, the drums soften and the smeared synths are foregrounded. "Marais Des Cygnes" casts dappled shade over a relentless house pulse with its fried dub chords. On "Rushing To Paradise," the chords are rendered as a huge cascade of sound, through which a dulled kick struggles to be heard. "Transit V (See See Rider)" closes the record triumphantly, a 12-minute epic of gentle beatbox pulses and intricate arpeggios. The whole thing swells and recedes exquisitely, going from bedroom intimacy to euphoric synth vista and back again. Huerco's new brand of ecstatic minimalism sounds unlike anything he's done before—or, for that matter, anyone else.
TracklistA1 Rushing To Paradise
A2 Marais Des Cygnes
B1 Transit V (See See Rider)