Hidden Spheres is Tom Harris, and Tom makes beautiful music — I mean songs that could be orchestrated by a string quartet or, alternately, blasted over a shitty soundsystem that’s being driven constantly into the red.
For those more likely to experience the latter: Harris returns to Rhythm Section for the slow, grinding and often achingly beautiful You Are Not Your Body. The title is about as declarative as this gets: Harris’ music is seductive, making no demands other than to move where it makes you want to move. Touching on an almost stylized interpretation of classic boogie and slow funk, You Are Not Your Body is full of these moments of unexpected euphoria, like a 3 note saxophone that gently tears through the title track and turns the whole thing over into a most unexpected jam.
“Love Your Body” builds on these fragments and gets a sparse minimalist dub mixdown. Ruf Dug’s remix sees this through a balearic lens, musically, but with a city vibe — music for a long night drive, sodium lights and the white stripe forming an unheard rhythm above and below. The 92 in “Euan 92” must refer to the year 1992, when another version of this track might have been a kick-out-the-jams transcendent rave anthem. Its big chords hit and ethereal vocals hit different here, with Harris’ formula of drilling to the ecstatic core of everything and stripping out all the rest. “Improvisation” even drops an acid background into the mix, and it works, I don’t know why it does, but you can imagine someone in a ridiculous beachbum outfit holding a 303 the wrong way and strumming it like a ukulele. A couple more tracks and Harris could have had one of the albums of the year; instead you are invited to discover one of the best EPs of the month.
Hidden Spheres: You Are Not Your Body (Rhythm Section International / 12″ Vinyl / Digital)
1. Hidden Spheres: Improvisation (08:04)
2. Hidden Spheres: Euan 92 (05:21)
3. Hidden Spheres: You Are Not Your Body (06:58)
4. Hidden Spheres: Love Your Body (05:13)
5. Hidden Spheres: Love Your Body (Ruf Dug Remix) (05:02)
⚪️ Disclosure Statement: This record was submitted as a promo.
#ReDiscovery: This was originally published in 5 Mag Issue #197 featuring Billie Ray Martin, Eternal Student, Lady Blackbird and more. Support 5 Mag by becoming a member for as little as $1 per issue and get every issue in your inbox right away!
