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John Digweed & Nick Muir ft. John Twelve Hawks - The Traveler Review
House | Monday 13th October 2014 | Bobby
Digweed & Muir’s latest collaborative project floods our ears with an intrigue rarely found in Dance music. The idea revolves around translating the thoughts and ideas of John Twelve Hawks best-selling trilogy of novels, The Traveler series, to our ears whilst steering as clear of audiobook territory as possible. This means that instead of having a person read The Traveler to us, we’re listening to it, hearing its very own dystopian set, totalitarian vibes through the medium of ominous electronica - giving us ample room for reflection and self-analysis, taking from it what we perceive for ourselves. Again, this level of concept is something so rare in the world of modern Dance music and from its ideas alone, the album deservedly wins the right for a full play-through from any fan of a looping bass line or a distorted synth. Concepts set as lofty as The Traveler’s are seemingly reserved for the higher echelons of leftfield producers, and Digweed & Muir, two producers perfectly capable of laying out conceptual electronic rhythms, have achieved their goal, just.
The project took shape when the famously reclusive Author John Twelve Hawks, corresponded with Digweed over a series of emails, expressing his love for the DJ’s work, sounds he frequented while writing the first book in the trilogy. After some deliberation and efforts at experimental soundscaping over the ol’ landline, Digweed thought it best to meet Twelve Hawks, an author ‘living off the grid’, and record a number of excerpts taken from the original novel. This recording was and still is the only time the two masters of their trade have met, making the production of this album an exclusive rarity, adding to its overall intrigue and mystery.
The Traveler starts strong, with opening track Maya acting as a perfect introduction to the style that Digweed & Muir want to emit with the album. Slowly fading in on a 2-step drum kick while mixing distorted samples of Twelve Hawks quoting his own work, Maya transcends into a controlled chaos edging to a drop that wouldn’t look out of place in an industrial warehouse full of the rawest techno, where everybody wears hardhats while synchronously engaging in rhythmical euphoria. It’s a great start that recalls memories of Daft Punk’s Revolution 909 all those years ago. Things progress with Live off the Grid, a moody affair that descends into swirling electronica from a choppy drum beat, relying with great satisfaction on the hoarse tones of Twelve Hawks. Through the majority of the album, this momentum is sustained and the narration by Twelve Hawks works well in breaking up down-time between hooks, however it is sparsely used… For an album with such an interesting concept, I was left feeling like more could have been done with Twelve Hawks voice. There are moments of joyful experimentation but his excerpts are used in such a linear way, there is not much room for creative exploration and things begin to drift into a slightly repetitive realm. At times lulls within the beat become problematic, when sounds are pushed for a little too long (intentionally) they begin to blend and the ominous overtones become all too apparent. Obviously this is the total effect wanted by all parties involved, after all a highly conceptual album such as this isn’t going to want to blear obnoxiously at your ear drums, instead it shows its character through its subtleties - Something the album should use in its favour completely. However, with 13 tracks to its name, these subtleties are sometimes lost midway through the albums run time, when things begin to blend. Cutting the weight of the track list would no doubt highlight quality throughout the rest of the album, disallowing a repetitive rigor mortis to set in.
The Traveler’s only single release, 3B3, does an excellent job of pulling the listener back into the dystopian foray, it reimburses feelings found at the start of the album, coming almost as a second wind before things begin to wind down. It rouses the listener with a slow build before cutting upon some kind of authoritative hybrid of dare I say it, mid-noughties French Electro and eighties Krautrock. And it works. This is where you wish for more from The Traveler, there are countless moments when a synth hits a jerked bass line or computer beeps float throughout an avant-garde break, making everything click, but they’re lost within the vast brooding future scape Digweed & Muir have worked so vigorously at to achieve.
Perhaps Digweed, Muir & Twelve Hawks’ The Traveler is best seen as a piece of art, an expressionist piece falling under the guise of experiment, a concept in its truest form. It sets out to achieve a sound only relevant to those who have time for it, boldly sticking to its niche and for the most of it, coming off all the better. I see it as a massive accomplishment by Digweed & Muir to even get close to emulating the feelings brought on by Twelve Hawks’ writing and to translate that throughout such a difficult project shows nothing but brains. The sound wanted has undoubtedly been achieved here. However, the moments that really stand out only do so for a short while, eventually succumbing to an intensely controlling beat that whitewashes all in its path, taking over and having its way - Somewhat ironically, total creative flair, exposure and freedom are hindered by the main focus of accomplishing this ‘narrow’ sound. But that’s a totalitarian dystopian society for you.
The Traveler is available to buy here! With a special limited edition 12" Picture Disc also available here!
