Production heavyweights Frequent and Hudson Lee have a potent history of collaboration; they’ve co-owned and operated Upscale Recordings since 2016, and they’ve combined their musical output in the last few years to produce “Windows” and a remix to Telepopmusik’s “Breath”. Individually, Frequent and Hudson Lee present two different breeds of potent electronic music. Frequent tends to focus on razor-sharp sound design and low-end ferocity, while Hudson Lee places his focus on the instrumental and harmonic interplay within his music. When it comes to straight forward production and engineering, however, they’re both at the tip of space-age fidelity. In another fantastic display of that fidelity, they’re emerging from the studio with the fresh, cinematic collaboration “Forest Fires”.

Differences aside, one of the unifying factors about Frequent and Hudson Lee is their uncompromising control of rhythm. They’ve both been known to touch on grooves ranging across the rhythmic spectrum, and therein lies the most attractive aspect of “Forest Fires”. Eschewing a dance floor-ready approach, the track is a slow, powerful dive into an emotive composition. It’s fully laden with audio artifacts and glitchy, asymmetrical cuts, intentionally rupturing the fabric of the composition. The arrangement ebbs in and out of a high tide of texture and tension, placing the focus on the innards of every measure. It’s the distinct opposite of transient, with downbeats few and far between until the tail end of the track. The movement that is usually achieved by percussion is instead achieved through the evolution of tone and timbre. Ripping synthesis mingles with atmospheric pads and subtle chord phrasing to create a fully stereophonic experience.

Frequent and Hudson Lee have built their individual brands and collaborative platform into a powerhouse of intense, texturally crisp music. Occasionally, they combine their musical and production know-how to craft some particularly alluring musical experiences. “Forest Fires” is a formidable next step in their ongoing voyage through sound, forging a unique combination of living, breathing composition and top-tier production and engineering.

FOLLOW Frequent: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Spotify

FOLLOW Hudson Lee: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Spotify