Album Review: The Range- Nonfiction

It’s on probably my fourth of fifth listen to Nonfiction that I can finally put my finger on it—Rhode Island based producer (wha?) James Hinton, performing under the moniker The Range has put together what can be easily classified as a more “listener friendly” alternative to DJ Rashad’s brilliant but inaccessible attimes Double Cup.

Proving that you should never judge a book by its cover—or in this case, a record with unfortunate, Trapper Keeper-inspired artwork, Hinton combines minimalistic, downtempo, “chilled” out electronic vibes, and out of context snippets of dialogue (amongst other things) on Nonfiction. It can be incredibly beautiful and triumphant at times—early on in the record, on “Everything But,” he uses a disembodied vocal sample while piling huge percussion over the top of it, resulting in a kind of warm, nostalgic feeling. Later on he repeats it with “Postie.”

While as a whole, Nonfiction remains more accessible to a casual listener, and doesn’t test patience as much as Double Cup, there are some grittier moments—the dialogue on “Jamie,” about friends turning to enemies creates one of the few moments of menace, but it’s balanced out with hard hitting drums, an a surprisingly beautiful pattern of synths and piano keys swirling in the background.

Occasionally the sound collage, cut-and-paste aesthetic that Hinton creates becomes a little “much.” On, “FM Myth,” things border on getting out of hand—a synth progression that doesn’t quite line up with the frenetic and compressed, jungle-style percussion, and then on top of that, a bunch of weird chopped up voices.

Overall, Hinton is able to keep it together throughout the running time of Nonfiction. Things only go off the rails in the final third of the album—the ironically bubbly sounding “Sad Song” just combines a little too much—chaotic drum ‘n’ bass, beeps and boops, et. al—and it’s the one place where the cutting and pasting falls short, not so much turning into a hot mess, but it’s definitely not one of the standout tracks on the record. The same problem occurs with the first half of “Telescope,” until in the second portion where the song finds its footing and becomes incredibly exultant.

 In the end, Nonfiction is not, like, a revelation of any kind. Not that it’s trying to be, or needs to be. And not that that’s a bad thing. In a field of music where newer artists can run the risk of being incredibly derivative of others, Hinton’s project as The Range shows that there is no shortage of new ideas.

Nonfiction is available now in extremely limited quantity on LP via Donky Pitch.