Next To Nothing

Categorising music by mood feels like narc work in the Spotify era. Landing on a popular playlist is one of the only ways to hack the streaming system for a few pennies—but surely no one dreams of being the poster child for "chill beats"? Still, mood music does exist and we can't pretend we don't enjoy it. There's always space on the shelf for a proper back-to-mine album—the kind of thing you can stick on with confidence when you roll in from a big night out with your friends, your new S.O., or whoever. South London's Hector Plimmer has made exactly that with his second full-length, a heady late-night-tale that marks a major leap forward from his 2017 debut.
Plimmer loosely orbits the jazz scene that's bubbled up in South London in recent years. On Next To Nothing, star turns come from singers Ego Ella May and Alexa Harley, who add their smoky voices across four songs, and Theo Parrish collaborator Andrew Ashong. The vibe is sincere, occasionally earnest—in a live setting, Plimmer comes off as cheerful and self-effacing, while Ashong performs wearing toe shoes. On record, though, they create something unexpectedly otherworldly. "Sonnet 17" is a sensual interpretation of a Pablo Neruda poem, invoking heady sensations, fragrant flowers and the loss of bodily integrity that comes with mad love: "Since I must go on, give me you / Everything you got, I want too." On the bittersweet "Joyfulness," Harley's vocal is layered into a thick soulful laminate, multiple takes melting together like candle wax. One of two Ashong contributions is the most ambitious of the lot, channelling the meticulous flair of André 3000 or Frank Ocean on "Somebody Else," which rides on sumptuous stacks of guitar, Rhodes organ and ticking hi-hats, Southern style.
Plimmer clearly gets results from his vocal collaborations. So it's odd that the trip-hoppy "Circle" is left as an empty beat, with warped strings crashing into waves of white noise in the style of early Weeknd (or even his favourite influence-slash-source material, Portishead). But the instrumental tracks allow the drummer to stretch himself in different ways as a performer and programmer, his broken beats feeling slinky and soft in the tradition of someone like Dego (who he's played with previously) or Mark de Clive-Lowe. "Step" is a beauty, building towards its drop over several leisurely minutes as lush strings quiver expectantly, not unlike the off-kilter orchestration you'd find on a Leon Vynehall record. Rave culture is implied, figured as a hazy memory. On "Still Here," Plimmer cuts breakbeats into discrete chunks and lets them scud across the mix like pebbles on a pond's surface. Sometimes it doesn't quite work. The same track's acidic squiggles bring queasy memories of psytrance (the jury's out on that genre's recent dance floor comeback) and tracks occasionally feel noodly when they could be streamlined, like the meandering jam of "Communication Control," which closes the album.
Had it come out 20 years ago, Next To Nothing might have been labelled a "coffee table" record. That classification was meant as a diss, obviously, but plenty of brilliant records got tarred with the same brush. (And what's wrong with coffee tables, anyway? Playing music for friends in your living room is a fundamentally enjoyable thing to do, and it's pretentious to argue otherwise.) Split between engaging instrumentals and evocative songwriting, Next To Nothing comes together as one of those records you could keep pulling out for years—when the time is just right.
Born and raised in South London, Hector Plimmer is a multi-faceted producer, composer and DJ whose sound is drenched in tribal rhythms and beautifully crafted bass. Influenced by beat-makers like Flying Lotus and Theo Parrish, but with the subtleties of the classic Metalheadz era drum and bass, his second album 'Next To Nothing' is released on 25th October 2019. The album features guests Ego Ella May, Emma-Jean Thackray, Andrew Ashong, Pie Eye Collective and Alexa Harley. After featuring on Brownswood Bubblers 11, curated by Gilles Peterson, Hector proved his talent when he was selected as a winner of the PRS Steve Reid InNOVAtion award. At a performance at 'Sounds Of The Universe' Record store, Hector caught the attention of Albert's Favourites' label heads Adam Scrimshire & Dave Koor. A conversation was started which led to the transfer of almost a whole album's worth of material and resulted in his debut full length record 'Sunshine'. 'Sunshine' was met with rapturous acclaim. The record went on to be awarded Gilles Peterson's album of the week on his BBC 6 Music show and was championed by both Lauren Laverne and Tom Ravenscroft on the station as well as Jamie Cullum on BBC Radio 2. It's success on the airwaves transcended to streaming with the inclusion in the top 50 viral US chart on Spotify. 'This album has been a real labour of love. I spent the most part of a year trying to make music I thought would be fitting to follow my last album, whilst not actually knowing what that might sound like. 'Sunshine' had been received way more positively than I had anticipated and although praise is a lovely thing, it was the cause of much anxiety when the time came to start on this record. I put a lot of pressure on myself to produce music and kept going down routes that felt forced or just didn't click for me, in hindsight I realise this was me making music not for myself, but for what I imagined other people might want to hear. In a way 'Next to Nothing' is my first real album, 'Sunshine' was more like a collection of four to five years worth of music compiled into the shape of one. This is my first dedicated attempt at creating a cohesive project, something that shows who I am right now and what got me here.' - Hector Plimmer. As a DJ Hector has a monthly slot on NTS radio. He has played alongside the likes of Gilles Peterson, Kutmah, Alexander Nut, MNDSGN, Onra, Dego, Kaidi, Max Graef & Glenn Astro; Hector finds himself in the good company of those talented selectors who play genres across the spectrum of Hip-hop, Beats, Funk, Soul, Disco, Afro-beat, House and Jazz. Last year saw the launch of his live performances. Flanked by Dave Koor and Tim Doyle on keys and percussion, with Vocalist And Is Phi heading up the quartet. Recent performances have included supporting Nightmares on Wax, Amp Fiddler, Yussef Dayes and Flako. Key festival performances include Glastonbury, The Great Escape and Brainchild. As a composer Hector was selected by Google to test and compose the inaugural piece on their open source AI synth, the 'N Synth Super'. His tracks have been synced to date by the likes of WACOM, Nike, i-D, Zandra Rhodes & Kitty Joseph.

显示更多