In art we should not be afraid of blurring those lines, and in music Rolando Simmons is most decidedly not. Blurring, reshaping and goading those divisions, Human Touch focuses on unbridled experimentation as it carves out its own path with a trusted TB303.
Since Walk on Strawberries, released in 2016, Rolando Simmons has been somewhat quiet by his standards. A rich flow of musical output has shrank to a trickle with only an album on Love Love, an EP on Analogical Force and a smattering of self released digital material. Joking aside, Simmons is not only prolific, he is quite prophetic. His sounds, though steeped in the knob wrenching wizardry of the past, has consistently caught the ear and imagination of the contemporary listener. For his return to 030303 the braindancer brings not a new album but a new collection of past and present ideas.
Immediately distant is created with the echoing clanks and hulking spectres cast by “Natron.” Creeping throughout is a detached acid line, a squelching morphing line. “Dew” is a far warmer piece. An undercurrent of the predecessor haunts, delay and trembling notes balanced by dawning keys. That dawn turns into a flush of radiant sunshine with the childlike energy of “Human Touch.” Beats are fast and pulses race in this beautifully contained piece of raw joy. As with all of Simmons compositions, there is always an element of the jam, an aspect of live spontaneity, that gives his sound a free roaming feel. This is clear in a spread of the tracks on offer, as is the sense that new genres are being toyed with. The chill of electro is present, as in the Drexciyan bubbles of “Hydrogen Line”, but it would have to be a jazz-like openness that courses through this albums veins. Take “Starclapper”, with its rich double bass and cheeky brightness, or the whacky fruit-flavoured “Frozen Lemonade.” Beat structures are also tinkered with, pulsating percussion that adopts beats from drum and bass, house and techno. “Hidden Groves” simply does its own thing. From gentle ambience sprout glimmering flourishes and 303 buds before a meandering, organic bloom blossoms.
In the last decade there has been a desire to try and define artists and styles. Musicians have set out their sound stall and followed it, as have music writers like myself. Certainty can be craved not just by the general public on issues of importance, people like to know “what is what” and a genre tag gives that sought-after assurance. In art we should not be afraid of blurring those lines, and in music Rolando Simmons is most decidedly not. Blurring, reshaping and goading those divisions, Human Touch focuses on unbridled experimentation as it carves out its own path with a trusted TB303.
Human Touch is available on 030303.
