Sim Hutchins - Clubeighteen2thirty (2018)

Following his acclaimed work for the No Pain in Pop and UIQ labels, Local Action presents Clubeighteen2thirty, an eight-track rave requiem by Essex audio-visual artist Sim Hutchins.

Described by Sim as “a nostalgic record devoid of nostalgia”, Clubeighteen2thirty draws from every aspect of Sim’s clubbed out youth - positive and negative. Although the record at points “remembers things fondly and unrealistically”, it’s also a realistic reflection on the shit side of rave: mediating on the mistakes of youth, losing friends to car accidents and drug abuse, existential crises and clubbing alone miles from home.

In Sim’s words, this album - which utilises badly-aged sound fonts and plastic digital keyboard sounds, often drowned in interference, digital fx, harmonic distortion and samples in remembrance of lost people - “alludes to the fabrication of truths to create a sense of hope and optimism when there is little to be found at present ... there's an industry built on glorifying the past and it is a multimillion pound cliché making people richer every day. This is my enthusiasm for certain styles collapsing in on themselves with me conducting and orchestrating their demise.”

Clubeighteen2thirty is available on digital download or limited cassette, with artwork from Patrick Savile.

Sim will be performing music from the album as part of his live AV show, with forthcoming gigs in Dublin and Cork (June) and a Balkans tour beginning September 9 in Sofia. He will also be performing at the Radar Radio weekly party on April 5.