Fabric 64 sits at that rare juncture where atmosphere and emotional resonance collide on the dancefloor.
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.