keinseier :: Reduktion (Schwimmbad Musik)

Instead of adding, he subtracts. Instead of layering, he strips. Instead of giving in to gear acquisition syndrome, he frees himself by choosing one.

Technically meticulous and surgically precise

I first stumbled upon the sounds of Hamburg-based keinseier when I landed on his YouTube page, where he was showing off some patches and tutorials for the Elektron‘s Digitakt. I have to admit, I often enjoy watching these, but I don’t always appreciate the final output of the musicians behind the videos. There are exceptions, with Benn Jordan, Hainbach, and Venus Theory, and now I’ve added keinseier to that list.

Technically meticulous and surgically precise, his music is also lush and atmospheric, combining all of my favourite elements first discovered during the early IDM era. If names such as Julien Neto, Yasume, Seven Ark, and Secede mean anything to you, then I can almost guarantee that you will fall in love with keinseier. His latest EP for Schwimmbad Musik is only seventeen minutes long, but across these five vignettes, he’s able to explore a vast array of emotional soundscapes paired with downtempo beats and glitchy fragments.

In fact, the entire release was produced with a single concept in mind: to use only a single DAWless instrument (a Digitakt II in this case), and deliberately limit the sonic palette to selected textures, single notes, and acoustic fragments. Reduktion explores this self-imposed limitation as a tool, as “a way to shift focus away from infinite options and toward intentional structure, sound, and form. The music draws its weight from focus, not density.”

Instead of adding, he subtracts ::

Instead of adding, he subtracts. Instead of layering, he strips. Instead of giving in to gear acquisition syndrome, he frees himself by choosing one. I’ve tried this process, and it works. It’s usually how I begin my tracks, but then, admittedly, they grow into vast gardens. That is, until the very end, where I begin to chip away again, and sculpting sounds into only the essentials. It leaves them bare to speak alone and say what must be said without embellishment, without decorum.

Reduktion ends too soon, and I want more, and so I play his Particles released in October of 2024. As a side note: I’ve tried the Digitakt II in shops, but its clicky plastic buttons leave me slightly uninspired. However, with Reduktion, I may reconsider and get encouraged by this method.

Reduktion is available on Bandcamp.