Jack Hyde - Lowlands (2019)

Jack Hyde is a British artist currently based in Edinburgh where he is studying a degree in sound design. He released tracks Heather and Ebb via American label Past Inside The Present. These pieces became the starting point for his debut album, which becomes the final release in busy a 2019 for us.

Jack’s sound draws on wide musical influences; from the folk and psychedelic music he discovered via his father, to the dub and dance music exposure from his time residing in an urban environment, as well as his taste for ambient and experimental artists such as the 12k label. He approaches his own sound design by collecting a range of sonic material, to build a library of sound in which to instigate a project. Textures and loops are developed through a collage approach with samples and additional instrumentation being processed and mangled into a new cohesive whole.

Whilst living in London, Jack created Lowlands, a collection of fifteen sketches presented as a sound diary of sorts. It does not have a fixed concept, but the track titles are influenced by the landscapes he had visited, in which photos and field recordings were collected. The overlapping, slowly evolving sounds fold and unfold as a series of sonic impressions to map the images in Jack’s mind. The works are strongly linked to the natural world, which will feel apparent as you listen. Submerged, underwater drones and hydrophone-captures slowly spawn a lattice of minute detail beyond the aquatic weeds. Light of the outside world peers through the condensation-concealed windows of a humid greenhouse. The drone of distant ships fogging in over sea play out to heather flecked fells.