Noah Pred – Homewards

Modularfield

Noah Pred is a techno and house producer and DJ from Canada, who over the last fifteen years or so has released a plethora of dance-orientated tracks spread across numerous esoteric labels. However, his latest album Homeward finds him at a bit of a crossroads.

The sad passing of his mother has informed the work that appears here, and he has chosen to forsake what he considers the comfort zone of familiar rhythmic structures. On Homeward he ventures off into new territory gliding spacewards, nodding to the questing and vibrant electronic sounds that were percolating out of Germany in the 1980s. Although there are beats still at the base of most of the tracks, it is the adventurous spirit and desire for new lands that takes this album from the realms of the dancefloor and opens its mind to the possibility of travel far beyond.

Opener “Palmistry” has a spacey, questing sci-fi feel to it that is allied, surprisingly, to a mambo-inflected rhythm that is both infectious and sort of simmering. It is playful in a way that your average techno track isn’t, and although it would still be at home in a club, there is enough going on under and around the basic beat to make it listenable in your home. The sound of an underground railway sends the whole thing galloping off into the night, sparks flying, and to be honest, that is the vibe of the whole album on the whole; thoughtful, yet with strong enough beats.

Noah seems to be constantly searching for new sounds to inject a little personality to the tracks, because that is often the problem with techno: it just does exactly what it needs to do, gets the body moving, but no more. Here, there are cascades of new sounds skittering around the basic rhythms, like the Theremin effect on “Nevona” that acts like shooting stars firing out into space in all different directions and at all different frequencies.

The slow, mysterious squelching intro of “Goldenback” gradually builds into something speedier, but constantly feels as though it is awaiting something, providing an air of tension that is aided and abetted by the fascinating interactions between elements. Listening to how it all slots into place is quite compelling and definitely elevates it to a true listening experience. The elastic trance rhythms on some of the tracks like “Rogue Blossom” are the perfect canvas for Noah’s stretch into the unknown, echoey synths flourishing in the rhythmic light. Orchestral electronics sparkle like halogen lamps on “In Black Robes”, their refracted light casting an amber glow over the tastily syncopated, gentle urban beats.

There is sweetness here and there is hysteria, there are sunny highs and shadowy lows that cover the gamut of emotions; but really, it is about the humanity, the feelings of Noah himself — and also trying to paint a picture of his loved one in a way that only he can. Homeward works really well and what’s more, the packaging is lovely. The cassettes come complete with postcards of a mystery South American-looking woman and that image is a good cypher for the album. If techno doesn’t quite do enough for you, this is definitely the answer.

-Mr Olivetti-