- This hyperpop-meets-IDM-meets-emo chimera crowns a star-making year for the Sheffield producer.
- When 96 Back started releasing tracks on labels like Central Processing Unit and Hypercolour, he was barely out of his teens. His precocious nature and penchant for UK rave-inspired productions was encouraged not only by his father, a promoter, but also by one of the cornerstones of Sheffield's current arts and music scene, Liam O'Shea and, later, by Local Action head Tom Lea. In 2020 he signed to the London-based label, starting what would be an immensely consequential partnership with the SugiliteEP. Local Action gave 96, who appeared to be in a transitional period pondering, nurturing and cementing a more personal sound, space to do whatever he wanted, resulting in a trilogy of releases this year.
Following the 9696 Dream mixtape and the Flex Time EP, the album Love Letters, Nine Through Six exudes a striking self-assurance. A born magpie, 96 tends to dip in and out of genres almost manically, refining their key elements then arranging them to create his own cerebral but technicolour universe. This new albLPum is almost like musical fanfiction, mashing up disparate genres ranging from the abstract rhythms of IDM to hyperpop's artificially sweet euphoria. Love Letters also shows a talent for world-building—it's dreamlike and populated by ethereal, plucky sounds, made up of dramatic, complex compositions that fly by like a whirlwind. It's inviting, vivid and at times extremely familiar, a blend of early-'00s and mid-'10s musical tropes and Gorilla vs. Bear end-of-year lists.
The atmospheric opener "Felzin" is a slow-burner with lush piano and retro, '80s-inspired synths, in the style of Chromatics at their most cinematic. "9 to 6" is a playful tribute to early hyperpop icons like QT and Hannah Diamond and the more experimental corners of pop, with shimmering melodies and distorted androgynous vocals. Elsewhere, 96 ventures into more abstract territory, though still wedded to a cutesy aesthetic, like "Wisp" and "Don't Die," whose precise and quick rhythms have the giddy feel of a sped-up timelapse video.
There are still experiments with silences and darker moods hidden between the high-energy moments, like "Vibrant Colours"'s lovely, almost pastoral vignette, while "I Don't Want To Play Tonight," featuring CPU alumnus Tryphème, has a majestic sprawl and somber tones. The ghostly "Melt You," featuring Iceboy Violet, closes the album with synths that remind me more than a little of the Lavender Town theme from the original Pokémon, disjointed and repetitive, layered with otherworldly choral chants that drip with desperation. Love Letters is an instructive title. It's a collection of emotive cries of longing and desire for bygone musical genres of the near past, expressed with an honest touch that feels sincere and vulnerable.
Tracklist01. Felzin
02. 9 To Find 6
03. Gull Sad
04. Wisp
05. Vibrant Colours
06. Teach Me Tenderness
07. Don't Die feat. Joe Paisan
08. Love Compact Vibrant Colours
09. Soft Interlude
10. I Don't Want To Play Tonight feat. Tryphème
11. Feel Hard
12. Melt You feat. Iceboy Violet