Suspended between ’80s influences and more contemporary electronic vibrations, LAUTMALR immerses us in an evocative listening experience, made of misty melancholic memories and desolating abandoned places, infused by the glow of urban neon lights.
Moved by an expressive impulse that flows palpably along the entire development of the album, ‘Chasing Past’ sounds like a single soundscape that evolves naturally and organically, track after track. Here LAUTMALR amazes us like few others, thanks to the fluidity with which he carries out his musical argumentation: even if it contains repetitive cyclical structures as typical of electronic music, nothing ever appears obsessive, or a mere exercise in style, much less simple filler.
Each arpeggio, each waveform involution or revolution, each over-compression, each wave of reverb, take on an important meaning in a tremendously sensible way.
At the base of everything, we perceive a deep and vivid creative impulse that reminds us certain founding roots of great density and value. Thus, song after song, on several occasions we get lost and find ourselves, bathed in the charm evoked by the suggestive atmospheres that ‘Chasing Past’ projects like holograms wrapped in the darkest darkroom.
The source of this expressive richness lies in the meaning of the title of the album itself. Here LAUTMALR surpasses himself, because, in juxtaposition to the compelling futuristic sound of the album, comes the backwards narrative development. Contrary to what one would expect, the narration is a tape that rewinds, thus giving a formidable touch of originality to the release.
“The distance to my everyday life in Berlin gave me clarity and helped me to find my own musical vision. I got inspired by the unique vibe of Los Angeles, but at the same time the desolation and the anonymity of a metropolis like this became very obvious to me. I started thinking about my own life in Berlin and how it feels to be part of such a big city. Since I grew up in a small town in Germany, I sometimes struggle to not get lost in all that noise, the hectic and the stress.”
Wide arrangements and vast soundscapes magically unfurl out between analog synthesizers and digital samples, coexisting fluently with more introspective and vulnerable pieces, to create a release with a refined, sophisticated and finely crafted aesthetic.
Among the releases of electronic instrumental music we discovered in recent months, LAUTMALR’s ‘Chasing Past’ is one of the listening experiences that we have appreciated the most and that we feel we can highly recommend even to non-aficionados of the genre.