Jim-E Stack is the nom-de-plume of one James Harmon Stack. He produces moody electronic vignettes perfectly suited for some serious head-bobbing in the best sorts of clubs. Spacious, emotional and precise, his music doesn’t come easy. Born in San Francisco and now living in Brooklyn, Stack brings that omnivorous, bi-coastal approach to music-making, where it doesn’t just have to be one thing or the other. All flavors are welcome, even within the relatively small framework of the kind of electronic music he makes. The key is emotion, whether through the cadenced, pastoral minimalism of the opening track, “Somewheres,” to the more staccato, aggressive rhythms and disjointed vocal samples of “Run,” to the breakbeat-laced pop melody of “Without.” Following in the footsteps of pioneers such as Burial and the xx, with an ear to today’s most progressive directions, Stack is clearly a producer of note and another feather in the cap of local record label, Innovative Leisure.
-Eric J. Lawrence
Track List:
1. Somewheres
2. Run
3. Below
4. Reassuring
5. Everything To Say
6. Is It Me
7. Out Of Mind
8. Ease Up
9. Without
10. Wake
Photo courtesy of the artist