A traveller of ambiguous mental spaces and other quantum conjunctures, Evan Majumdar evokes Sheffield’s long musical history. The son of a famous countercultural agitator in the city, this legacy does not bind him to a past story, but to a story yet to be told. And in that sense, the young producer and DJ has paved a still short but solid identity in the ever-competitive British electronic league. With an intense pace of work, in addition to the mixes, albums and remixes that have been made official in recent years, he also cultivates a robust digital archive via Dropbox where he shares links to unreleased tracks – stretching this sound flow beyond the tangible.
Prolific in the sphinx-like universes he constructs, he is an ideal example of an author who is not content with the obvious. An example of this is 9696 Dream, a record that is sure of its origins, from the catalogue of the historic Warp to the abstract reconfigurations of grime and electro. The zenith is invariably reached when they stray the furthest from logic; the rhythmic exercises that soar between arpeggios and melodic strokes that spring from an accessible introspection and an exploratory nature of creative possibilities stripped back to structure. Accidentally or not, he continues to create narratives – perhaps more engaging than ever. Instead of presenting them as a whole, he chooses to leave clues so that everyone can find the form they imagine. It is precisely at this crossroads between interpretation and suggestion that the greatest fascination arises.
tender, exit emerged last year as a unique piece. For the first time, it brings a voice to the compositions and a brighter glow in the shadows. It manoeuvres an elasticity shrouded in laser luminosity, through unusual sound interferences or sudden changes of course (the kind that can rescue a smile of rebellion). In a perfect balance between the frenetic and the lethargic, 96 Back masters cross-border language like few others – and a vital energy for the times. NA
