John Talabot’s first and up until today only LP ƒIN hit hard when it was released on Munich’s Permanent Vacation back in 2012. As a chill house- and disco-informed version of dance music with a dash of balearic, the record probably scored many excursions in the spring and summer that followed its release. Yet the album always seemed slightly off. “Slightly off” then can be seen as a red thread that runs through Talabot’s work over the years, which also includes Hivern Discs, a Barcelona-based label he’s involved with since its inception in 2008.
As a result, it’s no surprise that Fragments, a lovely compilation published by Hivern Discs, is slightly off too. It’s not only the project’s format, but its content, too: Hivern Discs will publish Fragments as a box set including six 12″ records released throughout early 2020, featuring a collection of 29 tracks from (and for) the outer fringes of dancefloors by Russian acid- and EBM-head Inga Mauer, off-disco poster-boy Samo DJ hailing from Sweden, Spanish Hivern-senior Pional, Superconscious Records-co-founder Fantastic Man from Australia, Talabot himself, and Lawrence Le Doux aka Laurent Baudoux from Belgium, among others.
The latter, whose contribution to Fragments we are premiering below, is a Bruxelles-based veteran producer and DJ. His first release (under the name Tetrapak) dates back to 1996. In more recent years and after adapting the name Lawrence Le Doux, Baudoux has popped up on Belgian label Vlek as well as Hivern’s sub label HVNX with quality releases, among other ventures.
On Fragments Le Doux shines with “Regina,” an oddball of a track with a killer baseline and an extended ambient outro that is equally confusing as it is comforting. But it’s the track’s overall mood, that is as chill as it gets, which makes “Regina” the gem it is. We’re excited to premiere this helluva song here:
Watch out for Fragments, which will see the light of day from January 23rd onwards.
All pictures of Lawrence Le Doux were taken by Brieuc Weulersse and provided by Hivern Discs.