Will Brown is a Bristol and London based composer and producer who has worked for over a decade in the film and television industry, professional experience that leaves its mark on his productions. Inevitably, there is a tremendous cinematic undercurrent to his work as a producer, which gives his sonic artefacts their special feel.
Brecon is the alias under which he releases these works, which had its first release in 2018 under the title Cairn, and which was released on Mesh, the label of the great Max Cooper, who said about Brecon:
“When I first heard Brecon I was struck by something new: the strength of the rhythmic approach in the context of beautiful arp-driven synth music. There is a mastery of the drums, so sparse, yet so effective, without resorting to the usual tropes we are so used to in this melodic context. I was thrilled”.
In those days, Will Brown was at Brecon with Joe Farr, another tremendous sonic experimenter, and those six tracks sparked public and industry interest, which led to him remixing the likes of Morcheeba, Rob Clouth and Max Cooper himself.
Now Brown is on his own at the helm of Brecon, and this Friday February 18th sees the release of his first album, Fore, which is packed with highly emotive sonic textures. It’s no secret that we at the 1051 Magazine office have a tremendous attraction to these kinds of sounds… and this album is an absolute marvel.
There’s emotional density, carefully deposited rhythms and layers, attention to detail and neurosurgeon precision. Patterns fan out to imagine soundscapes that leave plenty of room for the imagination in the listening, returning again to what we referred to at the beginning of this article, the undeniable cinematic influence Will has thanks to his professional experience.
But let’s not think that this is going to be a work full of atmospheres and nothing more. Nothing could be further from the truth. Without going any further, the album opens with Prodomal, a frenetic groove cut with a high speed rhythmic drum base.
Fore is released by With Bells Records, a Sheffield-based independent label specializing in electronic sounds. Release date: February 18th
