April 20, 2024

Karl Hyde takes on the baton from Chas n Dave

Karl Hyde endlessly blogs glints of light reflecting off his beloved Essex, like a man desperately trying to find sanctuary in the impersonal. In the 1990s as vocal spearhead for the ubercool Underworld, he chatted about the terrors and desires of the late 20th Century urbanite, like a schizophrenic having a moment. Now, in 2016, Underworld have come back reinvented. I Exhale is a calmer, cooler sound, reminiscent of Talking Heads and Peter Gabriel, clunky, constant. The video features Karl, bouncing around in time, incessantly, like a man resigning himself to the noise that he can’t get out of his head. Dapper and aged, his lyrics are far calmer than anything preceding, no longer astonished but now melting into his world. Its as if he’s finally taken the baton on from Chas n Dave – taking it on the path of white flight – riding the midnight train to Romford.

 

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