Future Rust Vol 1

New label Future Rust offers this compilation as an immersion into the subculture of the handpan, commonly called hang. The inverted steelpan had a brush with the mainstream in 2008 on Portico Quartet's Mercury Prize-nominated debut. Since then its pleasing patterns have become a staple on the European busking scene. Future Rust Vol 1 is the first release from a dedicated hang label, celebrating 20 years since the instrument's experimental emergence from a Swiss foundry. The album advocates for the hang's versatility. Dante Bucci's ‘Waltz’ offers a beguiling dialogue with a string trio. In sharp contrast, Björk collaborator Manu Delago's ‘Spaceful’ gives us the hang in anthemic dance mode, accompanied by electro squawks and audacious timpani flourishes.

David Kuckhermann's ‘Asymmetric Refraction 3.0’ is a fine showcase of the directness of a melody beaten out by hand. With new melodic possibilities come pitfalls. Each hang is tuned to a specific scale, which risks a sense of harmonic stasis. Ultimately, exploring a genuinely new musical culture is a rare thing and provides reason enough to embrace the lullaby-like soundscape of the hang.