House music’s debt to Larry Heard, AKA Mr Fingers, is incalculable. Ever since the genre was in its infancy, he has crafted records that have spurned the formulaic, from 1986’s game-changing Can You Feel It to 1992’s subtle album Introduction, on which he proved that house could be listened to at home. This, the Chicago-born producer’s first LP as Mr Fingers since 1994, combines the two dominant strands of his oeuvre – ambient soundscapes that reach for the stars, and refined, jazz-flecked songs that possess a mournful quality.
There’s a leisurely aspect to Heard’s music too, allowing you to savour every carefully fashioned note. The vocal tracks, Full Moon and Crying Over You, bear scant relation to contemporary house, Heard’s soothing voice and the gently probing beats distancing both songs from the demands of the dancefloor. On the album’s second half, he unveils his other side, discarding soul and jazz in favour of squelchy sounds. Typically, however, Heard forges his own path, imbuing machine-made music with humanity, and while Cerebral Hemispheres won’t win him new fans, it makes clear that, at 57, house’s great survivor still has much to give.
