Grum
Heartbeats
etcetc

Grum is perhaps better known for his remixes than his own work.

The British artist born Graeme Shepherd has mixed a gambit of alternative and mainstream artists from Goldrapp (Rocket); Lady Gaga (Bad Romance); Passion Pit (To Kingdom Come) and Friendly Fires (Skeleton Boy), to name but a few.

It wasn’t until this year that Grum released ‘Heartbeats’ – a camp affair of ‘80s inspired electronica.

‘Through The Night’ is a sleepy opener, with twinkling strikes of the keyboard working up to a more dance friendly middle and end.

‘Can’t Shake This Feeling’ throws us in the thick of Grum’s style with its crisp division between electronica and vocals set to become a clear feature for this release.

‘Runaway’ has smatterings of what sounds like the chorus of Bronski Beat’s Small-Town Boy ‘run away, turn away’. It is one of the album’s more high-energy tracks with lashings of complex and multi-layered samples.

‘Fashion’ is an ambitions track that delivers with a cleverness to remain true to Bowie and not allow it to be bogged down in too much polish.

‘Heartbeats’ pushes Grum in yet another direction with the track’s chorus made up of multi layers of the same vocal. I’m not sure this track is completely resolved as it is more mechanical rather than technically precise.

‘The Really Long One’ really says it all. At over five minutes, this track employs good patterns of progression. While it is a little unnecessary in my book, its pace and samples keep you interested longer than you’d think.

Heartbeats is a solid debut from the UK producer.

Tags | Review: Grum - Heartbeats