- As a species, we're obsessed with our own demise. In films, TV shows and news, the consensus seems to say that we're heading towards a dark and dreadful future. Sinjin Hawke disagrees. "I'm all about utopian futures," he told FACT last year. The RBMA alumni is a positive futurist, and the music on First Opus, his debut album, mirrors that outlook.
It lands on Fractal Fantasy, the audiovisual platform Sinjin Hawke (real name Alan Stanley Soucy Brinsmead) set up with Zora Jones in 2012. Fractal Fantasy has only recently started functioning as a label—that is, releasing music—but it remains an online multimedia hub. (Each track on the album, available on Fractal Fantasy's website, comes with its own interactive environment.) The music on Sinjin Hawke's First Opus is as colourful as the label's visual identity.
The album is a sparkling synergy of club, pop and choral music. It's resolutely bright and uplifting, due in part to the high-pitched vocals that surface throughout. "Snow Blind" is one of the more obvious examples of all three core elements at work. There are angelic choir boy vocals, enormous strings and horns and a bass music rumble. Dark moments are rare on First Opus.
As a whole, First Opus is deeply inventive, and the tracks will slay dance floors. "They Can't Love You" is a catchy bass hit. There's a touch of Sepalcure about the lush "Divination." "In Loving Memory," dedicated to DJ Rashad, is a chipper footwork track. The best here, though, is "Nailgun," a screwy Sinjin Hawke crunk classic and one of the album's few aggy moments. Forward-thinking dance music tends to be difficult to digest—it's about taking risks and shattering the rules. Brinsmead's music, both risky and moreish, dares to imagine an uplifting future.
Tracklist01. Monolith [Overture]
02. Dawn Of Infinity
03. They Can't Love You
04. Shimmer
05. Don't Lose Yourself To This
06. Nailgun
07. Flood Gates
08. By Any Means
09. Snow Blind
10. Prophecy Of Martyn Bootyspoon
11. Onset
12. Cold Blood
13. Divination
14. In Loving Memory