THE 4th DIMENSION: “Overground” (Liquid)

A SHORT history lesson. In the beginning there was House. And God saw this groovy music was good and sent it out around the world to promote peace and unity. But somewhere at the start of this decade House splintered.

Some went in pursuit of vocals and slowed things down. Some kept things at the same speed but weirded it out a bit (trance and techno). And others got a buzz going underground, put the wally to the floor and had a big fucking party (hardcore). OK, so the band like to call it happy hardcore and the music certainly exudes enthusiasm but it’s hard to see all of this album getting mainstream acceptance.

You see this is the first album by an Irish dance act, and it’s fast, very fast – touching 200 BPM in places. Recorded in a week in a home studio in Killarney, it takes its influences from deepest, darkest Europe (Holland in particular), rather than the club scene of Dublin, Cork, Belfast or Waterford. Fed on a diet of imports of gabba, hardcore and breakbeats, this album gestated in the mind of four likable nutters. Now it’s been born.

It wears its influences on its sleeve but is hard to label. This high energy dance, that frequently verges on the hyperactive. Unlike most of its influences, Overground is lightened by hooks and melodies rather than taking the route of pounding you into submission. ‘Once Again’ is by far the best track for this reason. It is hard and fast but at the same time catchy and musical, unlike starker moments such as ‘Move On’ and ‘Ruffneck’, which tend to leave you feeling cold and pummelled. Only ‘Time’ approaches the mini-peak of ‘Once Again’.

The samples while far from original make for some light relief: ‘Here Come The Drums’, ‘Once Again’, ‘Can’t Escape’, among others could easily become mantras for the harder dancefloors. Perhaps you have to be of a certain age or more importantly of a certain attitude to get the full effect, because the escapist element of the music is to the fore. Music to lose your mind to (or be mindless to, says the cynic in me) . . .

A note of caution to the curious – the Sharon Shannon-inspired ‘Storm’ is remixed to fuck here in a rather bizarre manner. Basically the varispeed is put in the hands of a maniac on whizz and you could be forgiven for thinking the CD player was stuck. This was probably intentional. Either way, this track is not representative of the rest of the band’s work. It may have got them their record contract (and respect to the label for sticking with something they could never claim to understand) but it could prove to be a millstone around the band’s neck.

This album is chock-full of ideas and gives two fingers to those who said it couldn’t be done. At the risk of sounding patronising, jaded hacks and DJs will despise Overground for its lack of style, the kids will love it for its unadulterated energy.

• John Collins