SDH
Rider
Artoffact Records
In all honesty, it never felt like Fake is Real, the 2023 sophomore LP from the Barcelona-based dark electronics duo SDH, lived up to expectations; although not bad, the record didn’t have the punch, the energy, or the nervy charm of the body-by-way-of-electro singles and EPs that first brought them to our attention. Whether or not the band themselves felt that way, new record Rider more than corrects for that, with an exceptional collection of emotionally vibrant, danceable tracks across numerous styles and tempos, varied but uniquely them.
It’s obvious that SDH have spent a lot of time on crafting Rider as a complete listening experience. It’s evident in how the album’s template of change-ups and curveballs contributes greatly to its enjoyability; the opening 1-2-3 of the concise and gritty “You Talk, I Listen”, the mid-tempo nod of the passionate “Cruel” and the dancefloor banger blow-off “You Lost My Keys” prime the pump for the record’s myriad approaches and contrasts. Where the former song rolls out on lush synths, twangy guitars and some of the band’s most poingant vocals to date, the latter goes straight for the jugular with tightly assembled sequences and busy rhythm programming, sleek and just uneasy enough to sell the genuine sentiment behind its disaffected delivery.
The candor of the record is one of its major strengths, and the thing that keeps it focused even as it roams across the musical map. There’s something lovely and sad about the way the all-too-brief ballad “Something Sublime” is mixed to sound like it’s being spoken directly into your ear and how the rising synth pads and drums just seem to be getting started when they’re washed away by sampled waves and distant voices. And similarly, the intense and focused italo bounce of “Dawn Fawn” comes across as sweet even as its arrangement gets busier and more wound up, the classic drum machine sounds and big brassy synths are bent towards euphoria by the plantive rush through the city at night descrived in its lyrics, fighting the horizon for a few more moments of ecstasy. The drama is earned, and delivered with a conviction that cuts through its busiest moments (the rapid-fire closer “Behind this Dream”) and its most fraught (on the sax and sorrow fuelled “Defeated”).
SDH have always been somewhat difficult to nail down; they could certainly run with any number of darkwave, synthpop or EBM acts, but their restlessness has a push-pull effect; once you feel like you know them, they change it up, constantly keeping you guessing which turn they’ll take next. That’s the secret of Rider, it sounds intimate even as it threatens to pull away, making the desire to chase it all the more real. A definite accomplishment for a band who have been threatening to make a record of this calibre for a while, and have come through in glorious fashion. Highly recommended.
