Sascha Ring, who co-runs Shitkatapult and records as Apparat, composed Duplex whilst travelling through Mexico on vacation. While undoubtedly influenced by the sights, sounds and experiences of his journey, Ring brings a distinct air of feeling and intensity into his music that is not found in other releases in the genre. The moods created on Duplex are deliberately constructed from jittering digital beats and gentler acoustic elements with Ring not scared of adding his own vocals to some tracks along the way. “Contradiction” introduces Ring’s vocal talent to proceedings early on accompanied by organ, glitchy beats and guitar melodies. Whether vocals work well with experimental electronic music is really down to individual taste, but Ring’s contributions sit relatively well with the mood and feeling of the tracks in question.
As a purely instrumental album Duplex is a carefully balanced structure of interacting layers, often with a foundation of precise bass and further layers of abstract beat patterns, humming drones, tense synth melodies and other elements such as sax, organ or guitar. The addition of vocals helps emphasise the mood and atmosphere of the tracks where Ring lends a lyrical contribution. The moods represented tend to be quite dark and cinematic, the music intricate and precise to match the mood as required. “Wooden” for example has a particularly tense soundtrack quality provided by the driving bassline, almost mechanical beats and swirling guitar atmospherics although on this occasion the vocals may get in the way (briefly) of an excellent instrumental track. Similarly, “Warm Signal” has a doleful sense of loss about it that is transformed into a more determined mood by the introduction of a booming bassline and church-like organ. “Steady Uprising” on the hand is the most upbeat and conventional track on the album with it’s hard glitched up beats, jabbing electric guitar and soaring organ enhanced ambient backdrop.
Ring carefully sets the mood for each track on Duplex, constructing each in detail to portray a different emotive quality whilst maintaining an air of stylistic consistency throughout. Skillfully combining digital and acoustic elements, Ring’s intricate experimental pieces sit together well to form an accomplished and enjoyable whole.
Duplex is out now on Shitkatapult Records.
