fotosensualism - cl_echo

 

Released: September 16

On what appears to be their debut album, Ukraine-based electronic artist fotosensualism takes us across six tracks of varying but eminently chill and soft electronic vibes. It opens up with “Cosmotik,” which acts as a rather abstract but gentle introduction to the album. The pads here are lush and vibrant and the lead that acts as a fractured melody brings a certain kind of presence to the track. It signs off with a computerized voice that I’m quite sure is from somewhere I recognize but can’t quite put my finger on. 

But from here is where the album really starts up. “Chronosphere-j88” brings in the percussion for the first time and the rhythm falls somewhere in between a breakbeat and downbeat, giving a slightly erratic and more unpredictable vibe to the track. The creative vocal chops feel like they play into the established rhythms quite well and have a rather nice treatment on them. But for this interplay of elements, the standout for me is “Orpheus_17,” with its tight percussive textures and swung rhythm and vocal chops that feel like pure ghostly ASMR. 

The album overall feels rather modern in tone but has an element of something from the late 00s. Perhaps something that would have been found alongside Telefon Tel Aviv or ediT at one point. But the production is quite clean and gives a great downtempo ghostly aura that is punctuated by both the presence and absence of percussion throughout the album’s runtime.