As music reviewers, we’ve been following Chris Weeks for more than 10 years now and can easily count him as one of our most praised artists of the 10s. Among those, he might as well be one of the most underrated, whether under his birth name with numerous albums and EPs of radiating drone and dreamlike scintillating ambient, his Kingbastard moniker exploring territories closer to electronica, IDM and experimental techno, or as Myheadisaballoon, showcasing more pop and psychedelic elements. In short, imagine if Primal Scream, Autechre and Brian Eno were all one and the same person, and you’ll get an idea of the man’s creativity… suffice to say that his lack of recognition still comes as a shock to us at IRM. For this new release, that we are proud to share digitally as an exclusive, the UK producer takes on yet another alias, or so to speak. So, why WEEKS ? Probably because “WXY” didn’t exactly belong to any of his aforementioned identities : too ambient for Kingbastard, too minimalistic for Myheadisaballoon, too raw maybe for simply signing it Chris Weeks or make it fit with the apparently short-lived C\/\/\/\ project and its fragile chamber electronics. With massive layers of hiss, static and instable textures, hazy synths, syncopated drums and glitchy rhythms, this new album sounds very much spontaneous, which has been a dominant trait of Chris Weeks’ music of late. It feels organic and yet abstract, as much delicate as it is hefty, vast and intimate at the same time. Sometimes playful as well, but always filled with anxiety and unstability… so many paradoxes and seeming contradictions that make “WXY” quite captivating, another peak in Chris Weeks’ substantial body of work.

released February 6, 2023