"Loidis unveils a pair of brilliant reworks of Priori’s tracks while offering fans an additional small helping of what made ‘One Day’ such a mesmerising record."
Brian Leeds has thrived on making a left turn when it looks like we’ve got his sound pinned down. As Huerco S., Leeds started off with ‘Colonial Patterns’, an intriguing slice of dusty, alien electronica that arrived via Oneohtrix Point Never’s now defunct Software Recordings.
It can seem almost forgotten at this point, as the sophomore Huerco LP, ‘For Those Of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have)’, eclipsed his previous work and was immediately dubbed an ambient classic. While the album is very good, the exhausting hype it generated meant Leeds could not escape comparisons to that work whether he stuck to that sound or pivoted. Fortunately, he opted for the latter.
Subsequent releases built up the Pendant project, as well as a return to Huerco S. his West Mineral Ltd. imprint allowed Leeds to release albums of his own and a close circle of friends, including Ulla, Mister Water Wet, and Uon, among others.
Throughout it all, there’s a clear desire for experimentation, collaboration, and pushing boundaries, all of which are admirable and, in many cases, excellent listens. As a fan you’d rather an artist take risks at the expense of cashing in on part two of their most famous album, even if the results occasionally varied.
Leeds is hitting another creative stride with his Loidis moniker. Inaugurated with 2018’s ‘A Parade, In The Place I Sit, The Floating World (& All Its Pleasures)’, and followed by 2024’s masterful ‘One Day’, Loidis is perfectly suited for those seeking head nodding minimal and dub techno. While the trends post-Covid have favoured maximalist EDM and trance, Leeds strips his tracks to their core elements, with results both soulful and danceable. It’s deep club music for the headphone generation.
On his latest, ‘This but More (Loidis Reconfiguration)’, Leeds applies his trade to two tracks from Priori’s ‘This But More’ LP and makes them his own. “Silicate Tusks” and “Thick Air”, in their original forms, are short yet tripped out pieces of Priori’s album, drifting by on skittish beats and ghostly keys. With each remix, Loidis retains the skeletal structure of both tracks and crafts sprawling, hypnotically dubbed out iterations.
It won’t be surprising, as is his wont, for Leeds to change course and pursue other sounds under a different moniker. With ‘This but More’, Loidis unveils a pair of brilliant reworks of Priori’s tracks while offering fans an additional small helping of what made ‘One Day’ such a mesmerising record. We should take it in and enjoy it while we can. If Leeds moves on to other projects, Loidis has accumulated a small, brilliant output that retains its quality with each listen.
This but More (Loidis Reconfiguration) is scheduled for release 30 May via NAFF Recordings. Pre-order a vinyl copy from Inverted Audio Record Store.
TRACKLIST
A1. Silicate Tusks (Loidis Reconfiguration)
B1. Thick Air (Loidis Reconfiguration)