For his addition to the consistently consistent Fabric series, Israeli producer and sometime Diddy cohort Guy Gerber has taken the route travelled before him by Ricardo Villalobos, Omar-S, Pure Science and (most recently) Shackleton – the DJ mix as production showcase. Essentially it's a sequel to 2007's often excellent Late Bloomers LP on Cocoon in everything but name, but Gerber has enough confidence not to fall back on a 'bigger is better' approach to trump his previous effort.
Fabric 64 sits at that rare juncture where atmosphere and emotional resonance collide on the dancefloor. Gerber has handcrafted a continuous piece of music reflecting “personal changes” in his life where no track feels complete without the last, the set not so much building to a crescendo as drifting through peaks and troughs – much like life itself. He takes such a minimalist approach to what is in spirit a very much progressive house sound that even the subtlest of melodic elements – the descending synth flourishes of fourth track, The Naked Hairdresser, or the brooding organ progression and cut-up femme vox of One Day In May – have maximum impact when deployed. The three chord progression of Running Through The Night at the halfway mark is as close as Gerber gets to a proper 'moment' here, but even then he strips back the percussion and winds down the tempo before restarting a voyage home that floats through distant memories and dreams without ever engaging the warp drive.
Deep, dark and emotional progressive's time in the spotlight may be a decade passed, but with artists like Gerber, fellow Israeli Guy J and Spaniard Henry Saiz currently acting as its standard bearers it's clear the sound has a lot of life in it yet.
