Itai :: Awake / Asleep EP (TruthTable)

A jam-packed extended player that only teases the listener with the artists’ knack of rugged analog electronics.

Modular blips and bleeps surrounded by raw industrial flashes fully inhabit this exciting EP from Itai on the newly created TruthTable imprint (a sub-label of Audiobulb). The title track does just what you’d expect—with just over two and a half minutes, broken analog clangs flicker just above a heartbeat bassline. “Adream” floats by with an instrumental downtempo groove—guitars and scorched lyrics as its central vehicle. “Asleep” follows a similar path with further whispered vocals leading the way like Android Lust did back in the day. A highlight occurs in the crackling dark echoes of “The Greatest”—its synth-line and chorus is a contagious cacophony of beautiful noise that merits repeated listening. From the experimental electronic pop and swirling notes of “Lovesick Bombs,” to the muddy drums, rhythmic beauty, and acoustic guitar of “Gimme Candy,” this is a jam-packed extended player that only teases the listener with the artists’ knack of rugged analog electronics. As Itai “attempts to find that elusive place between wakefulness and sleep,” rest-assured that the cover artwork is perhaps the most spot-on depiction of this EP with its knobs and cables connected to a beating heart with a circuit-board built right in.

Awake / Asleep is available on TruthTable.