Robert Hampson and his then-girlfriend Becky Stewart founded Loop in 1986, and the band underwent numerous lineup changes in their five years of existence after the couple broke up, all the while pulling from darkly experimental icons such as Suicide and Can and morphing them into their own unique krautrock / No Wave / shoegaze concoction. In 2013, Hampson reunited Loop to curate a night at the Camber Sands edition of All Tomorrow’s Parties. After building steam throughout 2014, they’ll release a series of three projects this year beginning with Array 1.
With Hampson still forming the nucleus of Loop’s sound, it’s no surprise that the four tracks on Array 1 retain many of the sensibilities and structural elements of old. Indeed, opener ‘Precession’…
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…wouldn’t sound out of place among A Gilded Eternity‘s heavily orchestrated mantras. Constructed around a savagely executed riff that repeats itself incessantly throughout, Hampson’s vocal hauntingly teases in the background amidst swathes of effects-laden noise that veer from pastoral to brutal in an instant.
‘Aphelion’ continues in a similar vein, its hypnotic groove albeit perhaps more accustomed to the sonic palette exercised on the band’s second long player Fade Out than its more aggressive successor. Although new to the fold, Hampson’s three co-conspirators on these recordings – Dan Boyd (guitar), Hugo Morgan (bass) and Wayne Maskell (drums) – have seemingly settled in with ease. Indeed, one of Loop’s main facets back in the day was their surging rhythmic excursions, something Morgan and Maskell have locked down to a tee.
Nevertheless, it would be unfair to suggest they’ve adopted a copycat ‘best fit’ approach to that of their predecessors, and on the closing 17 minutes long opus ‘Radial’ each component of Loop Mk.IV comes into its own. While the linear drone of ‘Coma’ perhaps confuses expectations somewhat, there’s little doubt Hampson and co surpass them on the EP’s closer. Again, initially formed around a singular drone, ‘Radial’ takes on a whole new lease of life seconds before the six minutes mark. With nods to both the past (Hawkwind) and present (Sonic Jesus) in its make-up, there’s an unmistakeable quality about ‘Radial’ that has Loop’s name firmly stamped across its grooves.
While not quite on a par with the dizzying heights of ‘Burning World’ or ‘Collision’ from Loop’s illustrious past, Array 1 contains enough moments of unparalleled brilliance to make autumn’s projected follow-up EP a mouthwatering prospect.