Lowfish :: Hypersensitivity EP (Suction)

Hypersensitivity marks no great departure, Lowfish hasn’t journeyed into techno or dived into ambient. Instead, the Suction artist has honed his sound of autumnal pads and wintery beats. One less favorable element does plague the 12”, very short tracks but, as we all know, good things sadly can’t last forever.

As a lad I used to go to Dublin to buy records. I’d get the train from my hometown, usually meet up with a certain Italian mate in the capital, and do the rounds of the shops. Tower Records. Road Records. Reverb. Spin Dizzy. Since then some of these shops have receded into the annals of the past, some have strangely come back to life but Spin Dizzy has been a constant to this day. It was there I bought Lowfish’s debut album, Eliminator, and it sits in front of me on the shelf with the country I now call my home having just gone a goal down to Morroco in the world cup, but that’s another story. I have followed the Gregory de Rocher ever since, Spain just equalized, from his cold cuts on Ersatz Audio to his warm noodlings with Solvent for Vynalogica and the sound I return to is that of Eliminator. Playful with an edge, video game soaked without being childish. Lowfish has been quiet over the past few years with just a few resurfacing here and there. So what has the Vancouver man’s first 12” in twelve years got to say?

One notable change of Lowfish’s more recent material has been a lowering in tempos, as in the measured “Scarborough Brutalist” from his C.D.S.N. split with June from 2016. Drums simmer on a low bpm in the slow burning “Arp 294ms.” Rich analogue tones are cut with a stark snare in the moody and murky “Mv37” before the innocent grooves of “Study for Arp and Other Synthesizers.” D Rocher has far from abandoned his trademark sound, instead he has adapted it and added new layers. “Favourable Reports” hums with that same energy, those same lush tones that first characterized this Canadian’s style, yet new elements have been introduced. The track, one of the longest of the 12”, is allowed to develop and mature, to ebb and flow, as intimate notes are distanced by bittersweet strings for a number you will undoubtedly return to again and again. The title piece explores something more familiar for Suction fans. Chords cascade in arpeggio cycles as a beat bites in a terrifically fluid work. The curtain call is the curiously minimal “Blood.” Looming lines echoes over surface noise and a lost metronome in this ephemeral end.

Whenever I hear Lowfish I hark back to that first time hearing him, of going home and listening to Eliminator on repeat. Nostalgia is pretty powerful stuff but it can’t take away from De Rocher’s talent. He had a unique style, and has adhered to. Hypersensitivity marks no great departure, Lowfish hasn’t journeyed into techno or dived into ambient. Instead, the Suction artist has honed his sound of autumnal pads and wintery beats. One less favorable element does plague the 12”, very short tracks but, as we all know, good things sadly can’t last forever. Fingers crossed Hypersensitivity marks a period of productivity for this Canadian pioneer. Spain drew 2-2 in case ‘ya missed it.

Hypersensitivity is available on Suction.