Artist: AFFKT
Album: Son Of A Thousand Sounds LP
Label: Sincopat
Release Date: Out Now!
Genre: Ambient/House/Techno
I literally didn’t know where to start with this album on Sincopat. Twelve beautifully crafted tracks, absolutely packed with indulgent deep sounds to get yourself lost in. ‘Son Of A Thousand Souls’ contains a variety of styles and sounds whilst still displaying the depth of sound that only AFFKT can bring into their music. ‘Son Of A Thousand Sounds’ will challenge you, inspire you, touch you and amaze you.
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We braved the arctic blast and ventured up to Glasgow to see the return of Glasgow’s prodigal son, Lars Sandberg (aka Funk D'Void) for a hometown gig on New Year’s Eve‘Dreamscape’ is ambient, chilled and lush. I could go on and on with words to describe just how beautifully deep this piece of music is. It just washes you wave after wave of deep, warm, emotive sounds. This is a track that just grabs at your heart strings, gives them a gentle pluck and puts a smile on your face and a tear in your eye. The next track, ‘Oxi’ is a more pumped up drum beat, you can’t help but dance to this. A deep, plunging bass drives the track along, whilst swathes of evolving pads start bringing increasing amounts of depth into the track. ‘Oxi’ just drifts and warps with layer after layer of wonderfully deep sounds. Yet another stunning track from AFFKT.
‘San Deigo’ kicks off with an evolving arpeggio accompanied by a driven rolling bassline that reminds me of music from the 80’s. The arpeggio is the key to this track as it grows and changes sound as the track progresses. Pad sounds drift around the track to add another layer and texture to the track. This is a venturing soundscape that encompasses a wide variety of sounds and production techniques.
With a minimal drum pattern, ‘Between Us’ feels like its more about having an open expression and creativity within sound design. ‘Between Us’ has an orchestral vibe about it which gives it a feeling of it belonging to a movie soundtrack and brings a more personal feeling to the track as if its saying “This is us, and this is what we’re about”. An evocative piece of work!
‘The Show’ has a real quirky vibe to it. As ever, AFFKT bring real depth to the track with the sounds that they create but throw some licks of acid and a trippy vocal, courtesy of Sutja Gutierrez, and you have an amazingly unique track. Catchy, quirky and wonderfully addictive. Next up is ‘Ikigai’. Fuelled by a kick drum which is reminiscent of a heartbeat, this is a beauty of track. Deep pads, laidback arpeggios and waves of subtle synths keep this track interesting and beautifully moving along. This is a stunning piece of music from AFFKT. For me, it’s a highly emotional tune that really grabbed a hold of me, as if somebody had reached into me and touched my heart.
There’s a moodier, darker edge to ‘Flashcrash’ which holds it eerieness thanks to a spooky vocal from Sutja Gutierrez. ‘Flashcrash’ brings moody energy to this album to help balance the light and the dark of the album. This is a filthy, dirty rolling track and the star of the track is the twisted vocal from Sutja Gutierrez. The vocal just helps to encapsulate the whole feel of the track and glues the whole track together. Totally different from the other tracks but in a great way as it shows AFFKTs darker side.
‘Boira’ begins with a tinkering melody which sounds similar to a childs music box which is running out of batteries. Quirky, deep and mildly sinister to being with, but then the track opens up with a building arpeggio and piano chords. As the track starts to come to a close lovely deep pads swirl about and deep drones warble around the track, and its at this point that you realise, after the slightly chilling start to the track, that this is a beautifully created and thought out track that brings dark and light together wonderfully.
Once again featuring the wonderful vocals of Sutja Gutierrez, ‘Someone In The Sky’ brings you back into more upbeat territory once more. Driven by a deep, gritty arpeggio and a warping pad which jitters playfully around the track. This is a funky, groovy track but it still holds the depth of sound that AFFKT have brought into every track on this album thus far. This is a sublime wonderment of sound. A sonic journey that I don’t want to end!!
‘Mareny’ has 1980’s written all over it. It kicks off with an 80’s inspired drumbeat and then you get relentlessly hit with huge layers of dominant synths. ‘Mareny’ just grows and grows and then drops you into a sonic abyss of deep flowing sounds before bringing you back into the 80’s soundscape which earlier dominated proceedings. This is a synthtastic aural delight!!! Next up, ‘Ceniza’ which is 2 minutes and 15 seconds of sonic bliss. An indulgence of sound! Dreamy synths and a simple drum pattern drift along. Its chilled, dreamy and an amazingly touching piece of work. ‘Ceniza’ is a wonderfully expressive piece of work! Bliss!
The final track on this incredible LP is ‘Esclafit with Peak’. As soon as the track begins you know that this is a fitting end to the amazing journey through sound that this album has given you. A gorgeous, happy track that has a festival feeling to it. A vox style synth, which dances around the drums, is the main aspect of the opening sequences of the track. The track drops into dreamy plucky synths sounds that give a beautiful floaty feeling to the midddle section of the track. The track then flows into festival territory again. Such a great track to finish such a magnificent album with!!!
