Treader

UK-only vinyl issue of the follow up to 1997's Busy, Curious, Thirsty (CD version will be released in the US by a Ryko-affiliated label). "Treader sees Spring Heel Jack add extra breadth to their already impressive musical palette. Opening track 'Is' is a display of discordant Bond-funk carried off with great aplomb. It more or less dispenses with their familiar drum'n'bass rhythmic blueprint and this is true of most of the tracks on the album. Like their love of the avant garde, their love of breakbeats is occasionally worn on their sleeve, but more often than not it bubbles beneath the surface."
It's easy to see why drum'n'bass purists have a problem with Spring Heel Jack. Since 1991 they've been lending the tools of the genre to build their own inimitable contortions of the breakbeat and the low end bass mumble but with what's often described as "cimematic" flair. In fact, it's easy to imagine these tracks as soundtracks to the films of 2020 - multi faceted, hyperspeed, violent, calm, melancholy in turns, "Treader" genre-hops like a flickbook.