Italian duo Hiver have been slowly building out a discography of quality melodic techno that appeals to dancefloors without losing its sense of adventure. This is art rather than craft – it’s why I can flip through previews of a thousand machine-conceived tech house tracks and forget them instantly, the music making no impression, as if you’d never heard them.
Hiver’s tracks remain. “Inverted Scale” is a thing of beauty: danceable without tropes, hypnotic without resort to cheap gimmicks. “Trance” would be the best word for it, if the trash actually known as “trance” didn’t already take it. The title track is a deep ambient piece, a breezy take on Vangelis perhaps, remixed with an electronic tic by Orbe.
Hiver: Spiritual Machines (Obscura Music)
A1. Hiver: “Inverted Scale” (5:48)
A2. Hiver: “Spiritual Machines” (3:26)
A3. Hiver: “Glass Effect” (4:02)
B1. Hiver: “Spiritual Machines” (Orbe remix) (6:56)
B2. Hiver: “RJ45” (Crossing Avenue rework) (6:41)
Originally published in Music Is A Family: 5 Magazine #160 featuring Louie Vega, The Scumfrog, Fish Go Deep, Terry Hunter & more. Become a member of 5 Magazine for First & Full Access to Real House Music for only $1 per issue!
