The Leather Sea (CD2)

Tracklisting

Tracklisting
1. The Leather Sea (Album Version) 5:46
2. Melt (Ade Fenton Remix) 4:03
3. Healed 4:09

Biog

Gary Numan and Ade Fenton release their second collaborative single, The Leather Sea on July 23, 2007. This follows Healing which came out in the spring - both tracks are taken from Ade Fenton's debut album, Artificial Perfect.

'Ade Fenton's more industrial material can't have escaped the notice of those who like their tunes bleak and buzzing with a palpable sense of fear and paranoia, especially when they recall Trent Reznor's early efforts. But what really makes Artificial Perfect so compelling is the vocal contribution of cyber-warrior Gary Numan - when that instantly recognisable, robotic, detached and so very trademark Numan drone appears, the songs take on a powerful identity.' METAL HAMMER

Until last year Fenton was best known for his independent techno record labels Perverter and Advanced. Both have provided the perfect platform for the kind of harsh, twisted soundscapes epitomised by his brutal Confessions Of An English Psychopath single.

However in 2006 Ade Fenton co-produced Gary Numan's Jagged, described by Q Magazine as a 'shudder-fest of consistent quality' , while Mojo enthused, 'it is supremely confident and the innovator of the 1970s never sounds like he's trying to play catch-up.' According to Metal Hammer, 'if 2000's Pure album brought Numan back into focus, then Jagged gives his music fresh shape and vitality.'
After working on Jagged, which came out in spring 2006, Ade Fenton spent the next few months completing his own solo debut Artificial Perfect - a powerful electronic album with elements of Cabaret Voltaire, Nine Inch Nails, Motor, Aphex Twin and Front 242. It's a fluent and cohesively atmospheric collection, opening with the massive, compulsive thrust of The Leather Sea, one of four tracks featuring Gary Numan on vocals. The first single Healing was more openly informed by Fenton's career as an underground techno DJ, while Recall and Slide Away are opulent, dynamically-produced songs that show off Numan's alienated but soulful voice to striking effect. Fenton himself fronts the apocalyptic rock of Truth, along with the epic-sounding One Day and manic closer Machine. The album's most introspective moment Everything Changes is one of two songs featuring Helen Tilley on vocals. The other, Burn, seduces with a starkly sensual, Bond-like opening before transforming into a psychotic and half-chanted chorus which is every bit as dark as anything on the album's more overtly heavy tracks.

'Ade Fenton is best known for being an international and respected techno DJ, a renowned remixer, as well as being the co-producer of Gary Numan's acclaimed album Jagged. Numan himself guests on four tracks - the archetypical soaring choruses of the panoramic Numan-esque opener 'The Leather Sea' and the dark eerie edginess of the techno-Industrial Fenton collaboration 'Healing' being most notable. The Nine Inch Nails influenced 'Slide Away' is another sublime Numan-meets-Fenton mutation, with a lethal nightmarish twist. A cohesive and remarkably impressive debut album.' ROCK SOUND

'Ade Fenton became a techno DJ of no little fame himself, and helped eventually to relaunch the synth pioneer's career. It was Fenton who helped make last year's Jagged as good as it was. The attention to detail on Artificial Perfect is admirable, straddling the divide between NIN's Pretty Hate Machine and Broken, and features Numan's excellent vocals on four tracks.' CLASSIC ROCK