8prn | Cunha EP

Tristan da Cunha is a tiny isle in the South Atlantic, which is supposedly the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world–lying over 2,800 kilometres from the nearest land-mass. Patrick Holland tried to make it there in a sailboat once, but ultimately never set foot on its shores. “It’s a tough island to get to,” he says.

Vancouver’s Patrick Holland, a.k.a. 8prn , has kept busy in the studio in recent months despite the multitude of events he has been playing around town… Following up his debut Time Waste EP on Jellyfish and his Over It EP on Blenheim & Celtic as well as a string of remixes and bootlegs, he just self-released his third EP entitled Cunha . (It is available for free download here .)

On Cunha , Holland moves into left-field four-to-the-floor dance domains. When asked what factors led him in this sonic direction, Holland commented, “I wanted to switch it up and work with rhythms that I had never used before–I was listening to a lot of Four Tet, Shadow Child, and Joy Orbison.”

A1 begins with a bath in euphoria as the intro heaves and swells foreshadowing the arrival of cheeky vocal snippets from Outkast’s “Roses” cheerful synth melodies and the driving thump of the kick drum. Around three minutes, the track breaks down and the mood takes a sinister turn–elation fades away as quickly as it bubbles up in the opening moments of the track and gives way to blood-boiling surging anxiety.

B1 is reminiscent of Four Tet ‘s work in a handful of ways–the way the arrangement slowly builds momentum as it unfolds–the triplet synth arpeggios–the repetitious use of indecipherable vocal snippets. All of this considered, this is no mere copy-cat effort. While certain elements of the track undeniably pay homage to Mr. Hebden, Holland’s endearingly devilish sense of humour shines through and distinguishes him from his influences on this record.

Given that each of Holland’s subsequent releases since his debut has ventured down a different sonic avenue, one thing we can feel pretty confident about with respect to his future work is that he will be moving into uncharted territory.

Wolfey