Current, the latest full-length album by Syntax, a Bucharest-based artist, is an ode dedicated to electricity. Inspired by the late experiments of bands such as Kraftwerk, Alva Noto or Byetone, the eight tracks are exclusively instrumental and can be seen as post-human interfering with trans-humanist music. Because of the precision of his sound manipulation and the perfect synchronization between pulsating beats and minimalist compositions you get the feeling that he is permanently challenging the typical notions of human subjectivity through technical transformation. The result can be seen as an exercise in understanding the realities of the postmodern world, a world dependent on electricity and digital realms and permanently offering multiple interpretations of what something IS.
Even if the sounds used by Syntax can be seen as "cold", „glacial” and "non-human", some of the tracks are actually danceable from an IDM perspective. After "Volt", the intro to the whole concept of Current, comes "Arc", a song that can be included in any DJ-set intended for the dancefloor. "Phase" explores the limits of the audible sound spectrum with lots of glitches and tiny bits of sounds and gradually builds up as a "wall of sound" with the use of low-frequency beats and high-frequency cracklings, like short but not easy to forget textures. "Dipole", the shortest track, is like an intense burst of energy, basically resuming the whole album in just 1:28 minutes, with lots of highly condensed sonic explosions. "Vector" is completely abstract, using sounds that can be heard only through high quality speakers, while "Resilience" invokes silence and high-pitched bits of sound in building a conceptual track, to be listened with eyes closed. "Ohm", for example, reminds us of Kraftwerk's classic "Ohm, sweet ohm", while the last track, full of well-controlled de-synchronizations, works perfectly as a conclusion, non-danceable but meditative. As the artist puts it, this album "articulates — based on aesthetic rigor — the audible forms of electric current, seen as vital energy and the active principle of an artificial consciousness."
Syntax attentively explores the sounds he uses, every song has a main theme which gradually evolves into an alluring and well-controlled sonic environment. Sometimes the atmosphere is based on nostalgia and tribulations of the analogue world while the whole concept relies on the sounds produced by electricity, exploring sine waves and digital glitches. "Current" is not your everyday cup of tea: the more you listen to it the more it expands, as you discover fragments and atmospheres that waits to be perceived with your cognizance not with your dancing shoes.Syntax attentively explores the sounds he uses, every song has a main theme which gradually evolves into an alluring and well-controlled sonic environment. Sometimes the atmosphere is based on nostalgia and tribulations of the analogue world while the whole concept relies on the sounds produced by electricity, exploring sine waves and digital glitches. Current is not your everyday cup of tea: the more you listen to it the more it expands, as you discover fragments and atmospheres that waits to be perceived with your cognizance not with your dancing shoes.
The album was released on the 15th of February by the German label KASUGA Records as a digital download and a limited edition (50 copies) SD card.
