Arovane - Reihen [12k]

New Arovane album dropping on 12k this November, vinyl and digital. 

I wouldn't have expected an Arovane release on 12k, though Mr Deupree did master his last two albums on Pure Magnetik... Nice autumnal vibes on Ephemen, sounding very promising to my ears. 

  Quote

12k is very happy to welcome Uwe Zahn, aka Arovane, to the roster. Arovane, a well-respected artist in the field, hailing from within the German countryside, has been active since the early 2000s beginning with releases on City Centre Offices and DIN in the heyday of the IDM and microsound years. He has since gone on to release work with n5MD, Pure Magnetik, and A Strangely Isolated Place, among others. With Reihen he takes his characteristic pointillist synthetic structures and impeccable sound design and lays them in a web of fragility, decay and etherealism that feels like new a new direction for Zahn.

Reihen came about in the spring of 2021 as Zahn was experimenting with a specific grouping of small devices and effects, creating asynchronous loops and working to no specific tempo. The idea of time without time, chance and inaccuracies came together strongly within this limited framework he had set up.

As Zahn himself states: “There are microstructures created. Noises between the tones. Raw, intermodulated oscillators amplified and distorted, rushing and crackling, silence and erupting cascades of sound. That was the foundation of the album.”

Reihen unearths a wistfulness and longing not often heard in Arovane’s more punctuated and rhythmic works, but an area he has certainly explored since his last release Wirkung (Pure Magnetik). There is a dust and melancholy that moves away from his more precise, metallic textures of before. Reihen finds a comfortable home within 12k, echoing back to the synthetic-tinged days of the label’s earlier years while creating a tactile, intimate world amid the machines.

Expand  

His recent work has been consistently excellent. I'm looking forward to this one.

that first track is really nice

his last one i heard about had some really strong tracks too, but had a fair amount of duds too (imo obv) and so it's still sitting in my BC wishlist i believe. hoping this one is a bit more consistent.

  On 10/30/2021 at 2:17 PM, auxien said:

that first track is really nice

his last one i heard about had some really strong tracks too, but had a fair amount of duds too (imo obv) and so it's still sitting in my BC wishlist i believe. hoping this one is a bit more consistent.

I picked up the two releases on Pure Magnetik. Enjoyed both albums, there are some wicked tracks across each release. However, there's the occasional track that I find a tad too reminiscent of the CCO period for me. I find the sound palette/melodies rather twee, even if both CCO albums have some fond memories associated with them. 

This is a very solid release, and fits well with the 12k aesthetic. The album's sound is cohesive, something I found missing at points with the Pure Magnetik albums. Perfect drifting ambience for the winter months.  

actually picked this one up yesterday after giving the full album a listen earlier in the week, and doing so again right now. really well done minimal sorta stuff but definitely has some more formed tracks, all blend together well for a nice album.