Hybrid - 'Morning Sci-Fi' (Distinct'ive Breaks)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Dance songs that don't make a song and dance about themselves. Lord knows we've waited long enough.
Amidst the dizzy climate of superstar DJs and funk-soul brothers, there's a common view that this is a genre searching for a bit of direction. Hybrid aren't its saviours. They're far too cool to bother getting involved in the mess of rescuing a sinking ship. In fact, the first thing that strikes you about 'Morning Sci-fi' is just how effortlessly cool a record it is.
Honestly, even you indie purists with a deep-rooted hatred for anything bereft of 'real' instruments will have a hard time finding this anything less than remarkable. Tunes a plenty, meticulously created, deeply ominous backdrops and an overriding sense of darkness are its staple ingredients. Whilst it branches out in terms of pace and intensity, there's a brooding, menacing feeling that underpins every beat of 'Morning Sci-fi', and quite an effect it has too.
Tracks change seamlessly, like slipping from one dreamlike (if slightly distressing) state to another. Be it a beat, lyric or some hard to pin down swooping noise, songs such as the fine early epic 'True To Form' often borrow elements from their preceding compositions before mutating into tracks in their own right. It's like being carted 'round a selection of different places and being allowed to take a souvenir before being blindfolded and thrown into a new surrounding - just as utterly confusing as that sounds. It's ambient and at times utterly vague, but then all of a sudden, tunes as killer as 'We Are In Control' or impressive recent single 'Gravastar' can appear from out of the blue (or should that be black?)
Yes, there are a few real instruments too, such as 'Higher Than A Skyscraper's construction, in parts, consisting almost entirely of a string section, yet still not sounding out of place when it slips back into the more recognisable beats and breaks routine. 'Morning Sci-fi' succeeds at working on a number of equally valid levels. The record is one you can both move to and sit back and admire its painstaking attention to detail without feeling like either option isn't intended. Hybrid are showing off, it's plain to see. But just be happy that there are some folk in dance music who can do so without coming across as utter idiots.
And, periodically, listening to Hybrid can be an uplifting experience. By the sounds of things however, being in the dynamic duo is bloody miserable - or at least that's how it comes across. Not once, not for one nanosecond, does 'Morning Sci-fi' lighten up, less 'Morning' than it is an endless, eerie twilight. No joy, no delight, no comedy. This is entirely, very serious stuff. So yes, often, this can all get a bit overbearing, but mercifully, it does so without becoming too pretentious for its own good.
So it's desolate, it's dark, and entirely, annoyingly aware of just how good it a record it is. But amongst the thick musical fog, there are numerous moments that are just so clever they can't help but make you smile. Or dance. Or just sit back in awe. In fact, 'Morning Sci-fi' can simultaneously induce all three.
Artists in this article: Hybrid
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