Listen to the EP ‘Beautiful’ now

Introducing Beautiful, a 4-track, club-focused EP by Copenhagen’s Hekt on Numbers.  It hints at his mass appeal while featuring club-ready vocal collaborations from close friends Henriette (on ‘Beautiful’ and ‘You Won’t Believe’) and Catharina (on ‘Anytime Anywhere’), who together record as Smerz.

Working entirely without samples, Hekt is a sculptor wielding digital synthesis and sticky hooks, with each element carefully constructed from the ground up – the process just as important as the finished result. “It’s about trying to be honest about what I like at every level,” he says, “and to maximise the points where I’m forced to check in with my feelings about every aspect of the songwriting, sound design, mixing, and any other aesthetic choice. Creating digital approximations tilts towards an uncanny space where everything is crystal-clear but also kind of warped.”

On opening track ‘Beautiful’, the descending bass and acid lines are inspired by tracks Hekt and friends used to test subwoofers in the cars they rode around during their teenage years. ‘You Won’t Believe’ started off as a MIDI piano sketch that accelerated towards the epic emotional impact of EDM stadium-fillers like Avicii and Eric Prydz. In a playful nod to internet culture, Hekt recalls that “I had this idea for adding a vocal that played on YouTube thumbnails and self-promotion. I called Henriette when she was in France and asked her to phrase it as epic as possible, and she sent two ideas over for ‘Beautiful’ and ‘You Won’t Believe’.”

On ‘Anytime Anywhere’, Hekt reimagines his sound at 110 BPM.  What began as studio experiments morphed from Neptunes or Timbaland-style productions into a crunchy pressure overload closer to Gescom via Lazer Dim 700, with Hekt also adding his own vocals.

Credits.

Written and Produced by Hekt
Beautiful & You Won’t Believe co-written by Henriette Motzfeldt
Anytime Anywhere co-written by Catharina Stoltenberg
Artwork by Alexis Mark
Mastered by Joel Krozer at Six Bit Deep
Lacquer cut by Tim Xavier

About Hekt

Hekt is the alias of Copenhagen producer, DJ, sound and visual artist Jesper Nørbæk, a longtime presence in the city’s intimate but thriving electronic music community. Embedded in a close circle of collaborators, he has mixed records for friends Smerz and featured their vocals on his debut Lens EP for Glasgow’s Numbers label, which also included ballroom legend Kevin JZ Prodigy. With his new Beautiful EP, Hekt sharpens his focus on the dancefloor, pairing crystalline synthesis and sticky hooks with club-ready vocals.

As Hekt, Nørbæk has performed across Europe at festivals and clubs including Norberg, Strøm, and Berghain, bringing both technical precision and emotional intensity to his sets. Also known for custom-built generative systems in Max/MSP and immersive audiovisual performances coded in Jitter and GLSL, he has presented work at institutions such as Statens Museum for Kunst and Simian. Whether sculpting sound for the club or for gallery installations, Hekt fuses computer music and club energy into sharp, synthetic forms that are as affecting as they are meticulously constructed.

Before striking out solo, Nørbæk co-founded the duo Code Walk alongside S. Gregersen, releasing five EPs – including a trilogy on Peder Mannerfelt Produktion – and selling out surround-sound concerts at Empire Bio in Copenhagen using the cinema’s 5.1 multichannel system. As Code Walk, he performed at venues ranging from Culture Box and Ved Siden Af to Corsica Studios and Inkonst, and appeared at festivals such as By:Larm, The Great Escape, and Distortion Ø.