James Holden- 'The Inheritors' [review] Published June 2013 LONDON IN STEREO

There’s a fine line between beauty and chaos. 

Think Jackson Pollock, think Picasso, think Lindsey Lohan.

Visionaries who blurred the edge of attraction and disarray.

Seriously, some of her mugshots are hot.

Allure and anarchy seem to be odd bedfellows, but like any estranged relationship the result of them bunking up can often be something pretty intense.

This adage is especially true in regard to music. Anyone who has heard Otomo Yoshihde’s New Jazz Orchestra version of Jim O’Rourke’s ‘Eureka’ will know what I’m talking about. Right guys? I can wait until you YouTube it.

Being thrown from the relative safety of syncopated rhythms and major chords by clamour and cacophony can be somewhat appealing. It’s like a subtle sex reference in a family film, you know it’s wrong but it piques your interest.

Now, to say James Holden doesn’t do things ‘by the book’ when it comes to electronic music would be spot on. 

His aggressive apathy toward the more popular side of electronic music isn’t something he hides; the title of his fantastic 2006 album ‘The Idiots Are Winning’ proves that.

It should come as no surprise then to find that ‘The Inheritors’ is a continuation of this ethos. For a start, It’s named after a William Golding novel that portrays modern man as strange godlike beings who use light and fire to bewilder lesser mortals.

If that’s not a dig at David Guetta I don’t know what is.

With those connotations duly noted, it’s the music itself that really sets it apart from the apparent bilge it strives to sit above. Tribal yet futuristic, bold but shaky, loud and subdued. It’s made of so many sonic contradictions it appears to be confused about it’s purpose, and yet it is presented in such a definite package that the bedlam it consists of is most certainly intentional.

This offering is much more atmospheric and not as immediately accessible as his last LP. It’s clearly the work of an incredibly talented producer who wants to cut all ties with the electronic scene in it’s current form. It’s both an example of an artist throwing their toys out of the pram and a gift from a true talent who wants to educate the masses about music that doesn’t need to be categorised by genre.

This album feels like an aggressive statement against the big business of ‘EDM’ and whatever it is Disclosure are calling themselves these days, and it’s through that statement that it’s elegance becomes apparent. It’s anarchical and confusing but it’s ideology is admirable and clear.

This is most definitely the front line of beauty and chaos.