Hailing from the eponymous postcode in The Hague, 2562’s Dave Huismans approaches dubstep from a geographic and cultural remove, bringing further disembodiment to a sound which is becoming increasingly fragmented and detached from its origins. His second album ‘Unbalance’ is tonally more grounded than his first, ‘Aerial’, throbbing with the warmth of Detroit house via his compatriots at Clone, yet tethered to rhythms more broken than the techno fusion we’re used to.
Here 2562 joins the Flying Lotus chorus, and on tracks like ‘Unbalance’ and ‘Who are you Fooling?’ rhythms barely exist at all, drums so slurred they’re unintelligible. Even here, though, there’s light: the latter adds congas but twists them into crumpled shapes, while ‘Narita’ keeps them whole, on a bouncy, almost UK Funky trip. ‘Superflight’s is similarly pitched, velvet Rick Wade synths over an almost D n’ B skitter, and ‘Like a Dream’ uses, and loses, grand rave stabs in warped, twisted loops. First cut ‘Flashback’ is possibly the finest, the drums igniting after stepping on a tripwire while all else wallows in dank tepid pools, like Burial’s heavier, crisper moments. Fine stuff indeed.
Joshua Meggitt
