I released my new album, Flow. It consists of fourteen tracks (53 minutes) written entirely on my Elektron Syntakt, back in 2023. It took a while to get it all together, and out of the window
Flow combines music and visual poetry – the music is accompanied by poetry and original etchings, creating a space that exists tangibly only for those who hold the printed edition of a 76-page booklet. But you get the digital version of the booklet via Bandcamp as well, and there are download codes for that below (I’ll happily share as much as are wanted).
Flow explores aspects of spiritual identity and the complexities of realizing that life might be infinite—and one’s own existence merely a local expression of something infinitely vast. From surprise to fear and awe (maybe we can never understand something that’s so vast), a recurring theme emerges: gratitude. What did we do to deserve so much?
Booklet
Just as with my last album “Cradle” (here’s the post on it), it became important to add context to the music. So I started writing, and tried to find a visual identity for the music. It turned into so much more, at least for me, than just uploading the tracks. I ended up using etchings that Patrick Wagner (Black Heart Press) made with me back in 2013: the images were made by yours truly, the actual printing work (and initial spark) were all Patricks.
Here are some snippets from the PDF
Physical booklet Flow exists physically only in its limited-edition booklet form: color print, 20x20cm, 76 pages, perfect bound. There is no cassette, CD or vinyl for this project. The limited edition is set to 50 copies, and can be purchased for €30 (excl. shipping). Whoever buys it automatically gets the Bandcamp download (and thus also owns the digital data of the album). You can buy it via PayPal.
I can relate so much! It was a process for me. I didn’t release music in 10+ years, and then it still took me some years to get Cradle out, last October.
I had the visual 20×20cm format by then for the booklet, and simply ran with it for this album.
The content is entirely different, but it feels so good to have this specific graphic design format/identity.
Thank you. Yeah i come from art world, painting, digital traditional and video games art, what i still do as my main job.
I always loved making music, and i find it as another form of artistic expression.
So seeing what you did(will listen to whole album later) is giving me encouragement since i am not musically educated.
Regarding art plus music concept, for me idea was always to tie both together, maybe eventually in future involve some animation work as well
I can do relate to that! Music was my first love, I did nothing but play the bass my entire teenage years. But then I didn’t have the courage to study it and become a professional musician.
I became a video game programmer instead, and years later studied fine art and became a painter.
It took forever to get my first love back into my life. So many frustrations with bands… led me to abandon making music. It’s through the Elektron machines that I got back in. But then it was an entire different challenge to create something that feels like an album to me, than to noodle around.
I found my path towards this by now: curating sounds, sticking to them. Then to add writing and visuals. It took twenty years, one could say. Now even if not a lot of people might ever hear it, at least it’s published and it’s POSSIBLE to listen to it. Yeah.
So: take your time, and it will all emerge gracefully
This is an extremely cool project, and one that is clearly born of passion and talent. Easily among most fascinating works of art I’ve come across on this forum. I’ve only just started listening a few mins ago but these first few songs are really cool. Stoked to see the book when it arrives!
(I also claimed code 14, I missed the part where the booklet comes with a code until re-reading the post).
Redeemed, the first one I think I just had a quick listen but I was kinda occupied with some things, and I want to take the time for it. But initial quick flip-through sounded good!
Oh my, thanks for your words. This means so much to me.
One thing I want to say, is that for me, tools make or break any process. The Elektron workflow opened up digital music making in ways that no DAW ever did. The same is true for etching, which only became feasible once Patrick, described in the original post above, asked me to work with him – meaning I could focus on the plates, but could ignore the printing press.
Since composing the tracks that went into this album, I started using Drambo on the iPad, and since ita workflow is so similar to Elektron, I finally get to use a DAW and feel happy.
Again, thanks for your words. I’ll send the booklet off tomorrow! <3
Had a chance to listen to your album yesterday. I was working, so I didn’t devote all of my attention to it. But I really liked what I was hearing. It sounds a bit like the soundtrack to an indie game and also reminds me of Kraftwerk. You probably get that a lot, but it’s a really good thing to me. My Syntakt only music also sounds a bit like yours, interesting to hear the instrument leading us towards this kind of music.
I once read about a piano teacher that wasn’t even in the room, when the student was playing. Their idea was: “once I notice you, it’s because you made a mistake. If I don’t notice you, everything is fine” – so I take this as a compliment :
And about the “Syntakt sound” – I agree to a large extent. The tool seems to radically define the outcome; when I use orchestral Spitfire libraries for example, the result is initially entirely different:
Even though my approach to melody and rhythm doesn’t really change, the sounds do heavily influence the song, and my mood while composing <3
I’ve just realized I also have your album “Cradle” downloaded. It also has that style that makes me feel like I’m waking up as Link, start traversing the map of a Zelda clone, entering some dungeons and meeting some quirky characters along the way. The sound is even warmer than on Flow. Do you have some background in making music for videogames?
I think the sound is warmer on Cradle, because it essentially only uses sine waves. It’s so mellow!
About games: I don’t have a background in videogame music, but I did program for Rockstar Vienna, a now shut down Rockstar studio, from 2000-2006. We were responsible for the GTA Xbox double pack (GTA 3 and Vice City), we ported Max Payne 1+2 to the PlayStation and Xbox (back then, the PS2 had less memory altogether, than the minimum RAM requirement for the PC graphics card), and more. That’s all long gone.
I was a programmer responsible for game logic, audio and also tool programming.
I played a lot back then, but don’t play so much these days. I never played Zelda. Apparently there’s a deep resonance with my music and games. It comes up a lot. I love games, so: thank you!
