Stephan Hinz – Outreach EP [Mood]

Stephan Hinz may be making his debut on Nicole Moudaber’s imprint but he’s by no means a debutant in the game. With a body of work dating back to the late 2000s featuring labels such as Watergate, Intec, Second State, Drumcode and more, it was only a matter of time before his dancefloor-tailored, mix-optimised dynamics found themselves on MOOD.

Armed with a restrained sense of funk and space, Hinz’s strong groove craft is established across three very distinct arrangements. We ignite with ‘Outreach’, a track that builds drama with relentless drums before being stripped right back for a humanised loop to flicker and falter through the rising drama. Heightened by every strike of the succinct two-note riff, it’s guaranteed to leave the floor putty in your hands before the main breakdown.

We stride forward into the techno unknown with ‘Phantom Move’ where an ominous analogue texture takes the lead with the persistence of a foundation electro cut. Raising in velocity and sheer breadth, it teases with a bigger riff potential on every fill. Powered by a thunderdome drum set, peppered with dubby overlays, Hinz is on a real trip… And everyone is invited.

Finally we hit ‘Resonant States’. Here we find Stephan somewhere deep in warehouse mode with a dynamic that’s fat enough to justify clinical classification and a loop-driven groove that’s persistent enough to warrant an injunction. Infectious to the core and coded with the same ingredients from the sonic spice rack shared by Berlin and Detroit, it’s a climactic closure to a pivotal chapter from Hinz. With sounds as strong as these we suspect MOOD will happily welcome him again in the near future…