High Contrast: Dance music is sounding homogenised – we need more sonic variety

In 2002, High Contrast (real name Lincoln Barrett) signed to seminal drum & bass label Hospital Records and now, nearly one decade later, he returns with his fourth studio album, The Agony & The Ecstasy.

“I wanted to switch things up a bit and challenge myself,” Lincoln says, “Having done three albums, I had a rule on this one of not using samples – sampling has been very heavy on all my albums and although I love it and will continue to do it, I also thought it would be good to challenge myself.”

Lincoln describes the album as more personal than any of his previous offerings.

“I wasn’t using sample vocals so I wrote half of the lyrics for the album. I didn’t really struggle writing them, they just came to me in a flash, straight out of my subconscious – the song was already formed and so it feels more personal in that way.”

The album features collaborations with an array of artists, from Tiesto, Underworld’s Karl Hyde, Clare Maguire, who had previously worked with Chase & Status, local talent Jesse Allen and Lincoln’s former band member Selah Corbin – a variety of artists in keeping with Lincoln’s vision for the album.

“It just appealed to me, having that contrast of the very well known, in Tiesto, and then some pretty much unknown and newer artists,” he says, “I liked the idea of that and it appeals to my contrasting outlook on life.”

Excluding his Confidential greatest hits release in 2009, it has been nearly five years since his last album. Having taken a break to dedicate time to film and scriptwriting, Lincoln says his new album has still been approached in the same way.

“It’s still just me working into the night on a computer at home – that kind of immediate and personal way of working,” he says, “I have my same basic sound which is a combination of the uplifting with the melancholy.”

“It’s something better for other people to judge how my sound has changed – I don’t see it that much but maybe that’s because I’m so close to it.”

In the five years since Tough Guys Don’t Dance, the drum & bass genre has enjoyed its most successful period to date in the mainstream with Chase & Status, Pendulum, Danny Byrd and Drumsound & Bassline Smith all enjoying crossover success. Only two weeks ago, DJ Fresh made history with the first drum & bass number one single.

“In many ways, the scene’s stronger than ever,” Lincoln says, “Drum & bass was very much the underdog and looked down upon by people in dance music. Today, there’s a complete turnaround so it’s personally satisfying to see that switch.”

But he wants to see producers pushing their imaginations.

“Dance music, in general, is sounding quite homogenised at the moment – there’s a big crossover in sounds from drum & bass, dubstep and electro. We need some more sonic variety.”

When I ask him about this with regard to himself as a producer, Lincoln says he hopes the drum & bass tag does not definite him as an artist.

“Hopefully I’m just an artist in my own right and people like my work – I get quite a lot of people who say they aren’t into drum & bass and they like my music and all artists should aspire to transcend the boundaries of a genre. I just do my own thing and I don’t know where I fit in.”

Previous albums have cemented High Contrast as one of the most revered artists in bass music, but does he feel any pressure to deliver with this album?

“Only for myself,” he says, “I only make music because I want to and there’s something inside me that compels me to do it – I’ll be making music for as long as I still have that compulsion.”

“But I don’t really think about anything outside my own head in that regard. It’s great if people are into it, but I’m not trying to go out of my way to hit people or certain markets.”

This week sees the Welsh producer unveil his latest musical instalment that also marks the accomplishment of a personal goal.

“I wanted to make an album that was a cohesive piece of work,” he says, “Perhaps with my previous albums, I didn’t achieve the overall effect of making something that sounded like a continuous piece of work.”

He pauses.

“With this album, I think I’ve achieved that.”

The Agony + The Ecstasy is out today on Hospital Records.

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