Phil Kieran 'Shh'
Debut album from electronic music mainstay, Steven Soderbergh film score creator and killer DJ/producer Phil Kieran
Belfast-based Phil Kieran has been in the upper echelons of the electronic music game for more than a decade, but is only now releasing his debut album Shh, on Sven Väth’s techno institution Cocoon Recordings. Out on September 21st, Shh is a groundbreaking piece of work that will undoubtedly gain Phil plaudits across the board.
Shh seems to not only reference every sound Phil has ever loved in music, but is formulated in a completely fresh and futuristic way. Listen carefully and you can detect elements of dub reggae, old hardcore like LFO, hip-hop, Autechre/Black Dog-style early 90s electronica (and other Warp staples), as well as the futuristic techno that Phil excels in.
For the album Phil went back to sound lab recordings dating back to the 1950s and 60s. Utilising these sounds in the initial construction, he built up tracks using a combination of samples, electronics and new live instrumentation, including drums, electric and acoustic bass/guitar and keyboards, plus choice guest vocals.
“I tried to use all my knowledge from when I first got into music to try and make an album that captures everything I’ve ever loved about music,” Phil says.
Phil has synthesized his myriad of influences into one radically beautiful whole: blissed-out vocal samples, space age electro, cavernous bleeps, fizzy technoid 4/4 beats, glitches, crackles, early R&S sounds, warm keys, acerbic bassline undertows, dense echoes, Orbital cinematics and randy robotics all feature. But really this is an album far greater than the sum of its parts and has a cerebral, sonic depth that ensures it sounds equally captivating at home, in the car or blaring out of a club system.
Cutting his clubbing teeth at Shine in Belfast, Phil now has over 100 dancefloor releases to his name on quality labels like Skint, Soma and NovaMute, and is widely respected throughout the industry and the technoscenti. He’s also recently broken into movie scoring, creating the soundtrack for recent Steven Soderbergh film The Girlfriend Experience, with fellow Irish compatriot David Holmes.
To exorcise some demons a few years ago Kieran created the live techno punk band Alloy Mental, melding Joy Division basslines onto punky T.Raumschmiere-style power-drivers. He also has an impeccable DJ rep that’s won him placings in DJ magazine’s global Top 100 DJs poll, and a guarantee to promoters that he’ll inevitably rock the joint to its foundations.
But now Phil has entered the next phase in his career and Shh won’t be a secret for long: it’s almost certain to take its place amongst not only the albums of the year, but as one of the landmark releases of the last two decades.
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