Guy Gerber

Mesmeric techno from the Israeli late bloomer…

Cocoon Recording’s latest signing, Israeli Guy Gerber, is a techno producer with a difference. The deep mines of rhythm on his new album ‘Late Bloomers’, out 25th June, are augmented by rich seams of melody and shards of mechanic emotion. Arpeggios twirl around 4/4 kicks and snaking acid lines… Hang on, aren’t we talking about trance?

Yes and no. Although Gerber’s sound is founded upon the emotional building blocks of melody and melancholy, there’s always a supremely funky edge to his sound. Rather than the fast, overdrive rhythms at which trance is normally paced, Gerber’s music has a slower, groovier techno tempo more suited to dancers getting their jack on. Strangely enough, the producer himself is a little perplexed at all the trance comparisons being bandied about.

“A lot of people told me it is trancey, and at the beginning I didn’t like this word at all. But now I live good with it,” Guy smiled.

“I’ve never ever in my life listened to trance. My main influences are Carl Craig, Richie Hawtin and Laurent Garnier. But I do like psychedelic music like Jimi Hendrix or The Beatles. I imagine how a trancey feeling would be, and that is what I try to create.” Now that trance DJs are picking up on his music, he’s glad of the exposure, keen to avoid being pigeonholed as one thing or the other.

“Tiesto has been playing my stuff, and other trance DJs, and it surprised me because the BPM is not that high! But to define is to limit and I’m happy with anyone liking the track, I don’t think that it’s just for electro DJs or trance DJs.”

Album tracks like ‘Sea of Sand’ pool the source sounds of Detroit and Berlin, while ‘Persona Non Grata’ is a Balearic beat gem. The whole album sounds incredibly fully formed for a debut. It turns out this has something to do with that title. “At the age of 32, I feel like a late bloomer in a way. There is something a little bit romantic about it. So I’m dedicating it to all my friends that are like this as well.”

As a home for forward-thinking electronic music, Cocoon turned out to be the perfect place for Gerber to unleash his debut album. And it had been written in the stars for some time. “People have been telling me that Sven has been playing my tracks for years. One time, I thought, ‘I’ll just send them a track and if they like it they’ll want to see more’. And then we got really connected and they’re really like a family. They’ve supported me in everything and I’m really happy for this move.” In our opinion, Guy Gerber is bloomin’ brilliant.