Futuro EP Tom Sharkett

Futuro is the debut release from Manchester producer Tom Sharkett. Having grown up playing in bands he was in his own words, ‘a little late to the party with clubbing’, and naively saw himself as someone who wasn’t a part of that world. But – after experimenting with new equipment and sounds while recording his band’s (W. H. Lung) first record, he was drawn deeper into the world of electronics. This, followed by countless nights on the road trying to find the hottest post-gig happenings, helped his tastes take a definite stylistic shift towards the discotheque.

After visits to Manchester’s White Hotel for nights like Red Laser and Wet Play, he soon felt the liberation of the club experience and realised what he’d been missing. Most importantly, it wasn’t a different world at all, reminding him of the DIY scene he’d been part of in his formative years in cities like Manchester and Leeds. It became clear that the weird, wonky and disparate elements that made up the earlier music he loved, also had their place on the dancefloor.

It was in the Calder Valley that Futuro came to life. Named after the UFO shaped houses of the 70s, of which Todmorden was unlikely home to an early prototype, the EP was written with an intentionally blind use of the half-broken equipment and synthesisers Sharkett had amassed during his time in bands, creating electronic music with a punk ethos. Leaving Italy for Leuven, “Haste” is Sharkett’s take on EBM, a twisted amalgam of Front 242 inspired electronics and pizzicato melodies perfect for cyber-goths past, present and future. Sprawling second track “Is/Morning/And” wakes from its daydream drenched in last night’s chemicals, ecstatic arps eventually giving way to the guttural thrust of an acidic sequence. Discoid percussion, clattering cowbell and spacewalking pads join the party. “Sister Mary Immaculate” (named in reference to the late Caroline Aherne) makes a quantum leap to early 80s Rimini. Built around a throbbing bassline and nuanced percussion, this dark Italo snarler ups the intensity throughout until a tunnelling sequence burrows deep into your brain. The verve for the vintage is put to one side for contemporary closer “Mind In Motion”. Sunlight, sonar sweeps and hazy pads abound on a haze-house anthem featuring the vocal talents of the excellent softlizard.