Neural (IT)

A few months after the relase of stengel for the french label List, Sogar is back with his new Apikal.Blend. 1000 printed copies, like it was for Deupree’s 12k release, this new work sets off from the exasperation of his previous records to create new solutions closer to a semblance of musicality. They’re nothing but small hints, of course, but it’s precisely this change of course to make possible to highlight the differences – and the progresses – between this last work and Stengel. Born in Nuremburg, Germany, Sogar has lived in Paris for ten years, and merges immobility and sound fragments with processed guitar sounds and mutations made using several software programs. A good example can be heard in the opening “Ioslohr,” while “Üi Spalt” throws us in a sound chasm in which he forms free and nervously mutating digital associations. “Selkind” sheds a ray of light on this album, creating a feeling of immanent serenity carried by a fresh musical breeze which curls up in a sequence of clicks; the clicks, again, organize the rhythmic space of “Solang”, spreading minimal beats and interleaving them with crystal-clear glitters. Following the musical flow, we get to the tickings which stress the complex intermittences of “Harm_red,” followed by the gloomy images which are suddenly drowned in spots of light and metallic abrasions in “Monohr.” This piece always feels as if it’s about to explode in a pop melody, opening tens of hypoteses in the listener’s imagination before the closing shudders of “Melogen.Desk”. With Apikal.Blend Sogar makes us feel like we could peek into his inner world, knowing we could find many other hidden wonders.