Review: 2562 - Unbalance

Here's my review of the new album from 2562, found in the new issue of Big Up Magazine, available in all good shops this month!

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2562 - UNBALANCE [TECTONIC RECORDINGS]

2562 returns on the esteemed Tectonic label with his second long-player entitled Unbalance. No, it isn’t that there are too many producers in the world that they’re forced to use numerical monikers these days; 2562 is quite simply Dave Huismans’ post code at his home in The Hague, Netherlands. It’s proven to have been a perfect place for his style to nurture: one that resonates in a sonic universe where the galaxies of dubstep’s bass weight, techno’s pulsing hypnotic euphoria, and the fragmented rhythms of broken beat have collided into a unique shape where the whole is most definitely greater than the sum of its parts. Sonically it is soothing on the ears, pulsating with warm synthetic textures, rich bass, crisp Roland 909-style percussion, and shimmers of electronic pointillism. Oh, and did I mention it’s irresistibly danceable? Yes. It is.

A brilliant follow-up from his first album Aerial, this one immediately draws the listener in with a short introductory track to set the mood before launching into what I can best describe as the soundtrack to an interstellar tour to the edge of the cosmos and back again. Unbalance shows Huismans really hitting his stride in this second effort, resulting in a compelling, cohesive, yet diverse musical journey from start to finish. Its dynamic ascension from the album’s liftoff toward the high-octane vibrance of “Dinosaur” at track five, my personal favorite, is eclipsed by the sudden zero-gravity suspension of the title track, forming a distinct turning point from which it grooves in a futuristic tech-funk style, swelling and spiraling to the very end, gaining momentum with every turn.

2562 has managed to create a unique headspace with Unbalance that can only arise from seasoned talent and careful execution. The lively rhythmic core of each tune acts as a foundation to the drifting harmonic progressions and electronic dovetails that alight on your deeper mental chasms, while never losing its grasp on your primordial inclination to dance and move about through space.

Such a gathered result is impressive, considering it was composed in the midst of a US tour last year, and has also managed to overcome all of my reservations about its predecessor. The first LP had good elements but lacked delivery and unification, probably because many of the tunes had already been released as singles. In this valiant return, the looking glass has been finely polished, and should be met with great praise. Each track holds its own temperament, while serving its role in the overall voyage, like chapters in a novel, separated only by spatial perforation.

Unbalance is undoubtedly one of the finest results of recent genre cross-pollinations yet, showing absolute indifference for preconceived notions. It’s not quite dubstep, techno, funky, or broken beat, but a completely re-constructed, re-imagined, inspiring soundscape that can only be called 2562.

-Alex Incyde

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