- Following releases on Formant, Reduction and a beat on Mary Anne Hobb's Wild Angels compilation, Hyetal resurfaces here on Soul Motive, one of the more boutique labels operating out of Bristol. The imprint harbours a penchant for glossy photographed artwork and free digital files for their hardcopy purchasers, and has released plates from players like Joker, label owner Forsaken and dark garage pioneer El-B.
Hyetal's work isn't perhaps as immediate as someone like Joker, whose torrents of dovetailing synthesizers give you that instant lick of future funk. Both of the cuts on offer here are more cerebral, slowly clawing their way into your headspace rather than beating on your skull. "Gold or Soul" has the same kind of militantly delayed snatches of sound that "Pixel Rainbow Sequence" had in spades, but whereas that release exploded into a multicolour hip-hop swagger, "Gold or Soul" bubbles up into a juttering roller that harnesses the same kind of swelling synth leads as Joy Orbison. Adding touches of digital flurries, he lets his construct progress and eventually re-layers his synths with a slow delayed vocal that amps up the melancholy a touch.
"Neon Speech" plays more on the bass work, consistently pounding it out after the introductory swells have cascaded up into the first appearance of the heavy delayed snare drum progression. But as the recurring theme confirms, it's at the second drop that Hyetal's work shines, employing Ibiza house pianos that double time all over his sprawling framework.
TracklistA Gold or Soul
B Neon Speech