'Trials' is the debut EP from London born drummer and producer, Liam Hutton, out digitally and on super limited lathe cut transparent 12" on Algebra Records.
Known for his understated sense of pocket and groove his drumming, 'Trials' extends this into the world of production with an EP that just feels great to listen to. The four tracks feature chopped up samples, synths and melodies with a blend of live and programmed drums forming a dusty, brooding aesthetic.
As a session drummer, Liam has spent the last 12 years touring and recording with artists becoming one of his generation's top session players and as the go to for a raft of top producers including Dan Carey, Oli Bayston, Kwes and Bullion. With over 100 million streams of records he's played on, notable releases include Shura's 'Forevher', Brodka's 'Brut', Orlando Weeks' 'A Quickening', Rachel Chinouriri's 'Four Degrees In Winter' EP, Steve Mason's album 'Monkey Minds In The Devil's Time', Soak's 'Grim Town', Foxes 'Friend's In The Corner', Anna Of The North 'Leaning On Myself' and tracks from George Fitzgerald's 'All That Must Be' album including 'Outgrown (feat Bonobo)'. As a live drummer Liam has toured extensively with artists like Neneh Cherry, Kae Tempest, Steve Mason, Sir Was, Skinny Pelembe and Boxed In.
Liam grew up in a musical household with his mother Jo Huttonbeing a sound engineer for the BBC and a sound artist in her own right, recently remixing 'Carbon Cycle' from Hannah Peel's Mercury Nominated album 'Fir Wave', and providing the audio from an exclusive interview at the family home with Delia Derbyshire, which Hannah Peel used to form 'Unheard Delia'. Liam's dad Tim Hutton is a songwriter, producer and session musician who has worked with the likes of Lee Scratch Perry, Amy Winehouse, The Prodigy, Ian Brown and Groove Armada.
Alongside Liam's busy schedule as a drummer, he has kept up his passion for production, beat-making and sample-culture, throwing down rough ideas and loops on his laptop in the back of tour vans and hotel rooms over the years ahead of working up in his home studio. 'Trials' was finished following surges of inspiration on returning home from sessions and tours with like-minded artists and producers.
The EP opens with the ebulliance of 'Dumb' featuring Algebra's own Casually Here, who weaves textured layers of synths, pitched vocals and arpegiated details throughout the track. Fellow Boxed In bandmate Jack Benfield makes an addition, with his guitar parts offering a soothing change of pace in the mid section, dreamily giving way to a crescendo of heavy snare rolls and crashes ahead of the track's finale. Propulsive breaks and syncopated stabs set the pace in the upbeat 'Walker' taking off into a blissed out technicolour paint splashed close.
'Shade' continues on a darker nocturnal note, with pitched down vocals and hazy pads framed by a lazy backbeat and percussive knocks building to an expansive peak before dissipating into smoke. Title track 'Trials' ends the EP with a sense of introspective purpose; chopped up chord stabs against a stumbling, dreamlike soundscape evoking the worlds of Four Tet's 'Rounds' into psychedelic arps pushing at the edges.
The EP was mixed by Algebra's Casually Here (Nic Nell) and mastered by Kristoffer Harris.
Algebra is run by artist/composer/producer Casually Here (Nic Nell) with a focus on supporting emerging artists practically and collegiately to help foster artistic community and context. Liam and Nic met through a drum session on Casually Here's collaborative Hotflush Recordings album Many Worlds with Lawrence Hart which was followed by Liam recording drums for Orlando Weeks' 'A Quickening' (PIAS) album which Nic engineered and produced. Recent Algebra releases included the two debut EPs from Heavenly Stems, artist/composer/architect Emma-Kate Matthews' 'Far Flung EP' and Sunpluss' debut album 'More Colour'.