fantastic mr. fox aka Stephen Gomberg

It’s often tempting to ascribe James Blake’s unusual style of electro/dubstep to some label or name. But it would be limiting to do that, so I won’t- and I haven’t yet seen any blogs or reviewers bother. As enigmatic as some artists and their music are, a marketable genre-word has so far eluded Blake and a number of other producers, loosely brought together by boring unemotional analysis. The young and gifted Manchester producer, Fantastic Mr Fox (aka Stephen Gomberg) is one figure whose music compliments that emerging titan of British dubstep really well. Specifically, he shares the same love of hip-hop, which he puts to effect in different ways over this short but packed second EP, Evelyn, released on 2 x 12”. Fantastic Mr Fox spoke to The Guardian’s ‘New Band of the Day’ two weeks ago: “There might be 200 layers in a song- […]I take the samples from so many sources, and they get so messed up, you can’t tell in the end where they came from.” Like Blake, ultra-clipped split-second R&B samples are used to create either punchy or flat dance hooks. Evelyn is slowly gathering a similar exposure to CMYK and Kaleidoscopic, which led Blake beyond dubstep audiences and towards Radio 1 airplay. “James Blake and Pariah have declared him the future of everything”, commented Paul Lester in the article.

‘Evelyn’ leads the EP and perhaps in the most well-known track to emerge of the four, but for me, my favourite is ‘Fool Me’. It is exciting, sprinkled with handclaps in time to a sombre, washed out sample. It piles in everything: electro beats, dubstep rhythms and re-jigged R&B melodies for a song that’s both alienating and personal. Like Blake, he layers rich, lush snippets over cold, digital beats.

The capacity for modern technology to give musicians like Fantastic Mr Fox complete precision, choice and control with every split-second of song is clear on this EP. By finely dicing ingredients that no one previously thought to mix, and in such a choreographed way, Evelyn is a musically unintelligible but exciting blend of chilled out shavings.

Fantastic Mr Fox - Evelyn EP by Black Acre Records