Luke Hess Into The Deep EP DeepLabs Records | The Electro Review

Luke Hess
Into The Deep EP
DeepLabs Records
TBR: 20th September


Head of DeepLab and proficient producer Luke Hess brings us Into The Deep EP. As much a homage to his kit as a creative venture worth talking about, this three track record continues the thread of Detroit Techno for dance music fans around the world. Deciding to make the best of use the retro equipment for a modern sounding release meant Luke Hess had to work hard to build all the sounds himself. No fancy digital software this time, sculpting waveforms with switches and dials really gets our teeth into the work of making music. An interesting note is that each track is released with a verse from the book of Jonah. This famous Old Testament tale of a man being swallowed by a whale and then preaching to a non-Jewish populous with success is of course an inspiration for us all. No matter our whale, no matter our Nineveh, we all have an optimum destiny that is achievable. Having faith is something all artists can relate to, even if it's faith in our own natural abilities to create.


First on the list is Breakers. Listed tech includes a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 and Roland RE-201 Space Echo Tape Delay groove, TR-909 drum work, and a TB-303 acid line. With a chewy synthesiser and drum-beat, pulsing in a catching tempo, the music beings. The notes span out in new dimensions of sound. Delay and echo give the placements of notation an abstract and wholesome edge. A thick bass laps in, its bouncy vibration plucking into the depths of the track. Soon it's joined by more drums, this time quicker, filling in the spaces beat the other beats. Airy notes drift skyward completing the mix in a serum of layered sound. Shifting elements of drum and gradually increasing velocity within the keyboards culminate in a rising energy which cusps over and over.




Spaced out drums canter from the small break in the music. An atmospheric synth warbles in the near distance and it releases bursts of percussion. Cymbals snake in, like a sheet of polished obsidian, topping the track in a dark yet inviting lamina. Breathing synth sounds swell in and out across a valley of percussion, the echoes filling the voids in deteriorated mirrors. Eerie sensations wash through the music, airs of mystery and pressure squash with each forward step. A murky world of floating still life expands before us as we journey through the track. Depths is noted to have been made with a Roland SH-101, Dave Smith Prophet 6, Vermona Retroverb, Roland RE-201 Space Echo Tape Delay, with TR-909 & Acid Labs Miami drum work.




Quick step cymbals with a snappy snare on the off-beat gives us the intro for the third and final track. Splashing metalwork frames the piece, high end notations and rhythms pound down like heavy rain. Swollen notes puff out their formations in a dusty undergrowth while more vibrant and energetic vibrations grumble and shine in-between. Atmosphere and hard-hitting dancing tempos merge in a twist of squidgy and introspective apparatus. More melancholy than frantic, there's still an edge of the party stitched into every bar. Dreamy progressions of tone like sirens of sleep nuzzle down with splattery and anticipatory beats. This is Submission, it's made with real-time recordings of fireworks and a Prophet 5.


You can find Luke Hess on Soundcloud


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