The problem with pretty much every conurbation of any size is the history and meaning that people assign to it, this bizarre web of mythology that people from elsewhwere probably couldn’t ever give a fuck about. Manchester is particularly bad, coming close to Liverpool in overemphasising it’s own standing in the world of music. As far as home towns go, Bradford is mercifully slim on the amount weight of importance it can even dream of having on the history of popular music. Local talent is largely drawn to the bigger, more impressive lights of Leeds or even across the pennines, rarely to be seen again, with a ‘scene’ rarely anything more than tepid.
If Hourglass Sea is anything to go by, at least we can be assured that chillwave has dripped through to the city, and long enough for the city to be getting bored of it. The work of Dean Bentley, this is a project that sounds like Solar Bears being played on the wrong speed setting, a hyperactive mass of noise that doesn’t quite seem certain where it’s going. That’s no bad thing, though – there’s the odd nod to chiptune, a sample or two that could’ve been taken from a classic hip-hop record, all strung together with a sugar-rush of synth. It seeks to overwhelm, and it’s best if you let it. In the space of two songs, Bentley may have moved into being West Yorkshire’s most promising musical talent.
Hourglass Sea – Teenager
