Keef Baker grew up in Widnes (Cheshire, UK) where he began to write music in 1989 while signed to an indie band called Kill Laura. Shortly after that he spent time as a session touring bassist until the acquisition of a computer in 1997. This is where the Sharps Injury moniker revealed Keef’s heavily drenched power noise frequencies. Currently operating under his own name, Keef Baker explores another dimension as he offers a dissonant slant for n5MD in 2004.
On his debut release with n5MD, Keef Baker blurs the edges of electronic corruption until all that is left are a few polished melodies that ever so subtly disperse themselves above a palette of sonic manipulations. The vast implosions revealed on The Widnes Years are all internal and self-created. Reflecting the feelings of pretty objects being crushed out of malice, an aggressive scope of work is complimented by melodic remnants during the uplifting points on the album.
Imagine the friction between splinters of asphalt as they gradually begin to erupt through the surface; nothing but shards of scattered debris would be found. Likewise, The Widnes Years details all of these elements with precision -it’s a varied and unafraid album representing a style that Keef Baker has quietly nurtured over the past year. Shying away from current ‘IDM’ trends where process surpasses the tune, The Widnes Years has a lot more to do with friction than it does with fluidity. Gritty beats, rippling effects, and the particles of dust scattered above each melody collide into each other as if they were part of one entity, floating into a unified apocalyptic frenzy.
Keef Baker is not one to neglect the sincerity of emotions within his tracks –crossing between the abrasively flowing sounds of Gridlock and Somatic Responses; it’s easy to note that The Widnes Years treads through luminous post-industrial sectors. It’s the soundtrack to your worst nightmare until the warmer melodies carry you into the horizon. It might be difficult to digest in words, but quite easy to envision while listening.
Systematically bridging the voids between chiseled electronic atmospheres, The Widnes Years brushes against transparent rhythms with one energetic punch, leaving nothing but an opaque view of a cold, mechanical world.
The Widnes Years is out now on n5MD.
