Mike Hans STEFFL - Complicated Connections


 

Released: August 8 

Based heavily on the exceedingly intertwined stories of the gods of Ancient Greece, Complicated Connections is a mesmerizing journey through synthesized landscapes that allude to and set the stage for the intricacies of these ancient mythological figures. As expected, most of the names are those of well known gods and other figures throughout the myths. Some of these feel very distinctly as though they belong to that figure with a favorite example of mine being “Charon,” a track that stays mainly in the realm of dark and ethereal but shows these small little bits of light and wonder. It gives it this sense of motion and transition - something that I particularly enjoyed as a track about the ferryman of the river Styx could easily have been morose, but instead becomes vehicle of transformation and intrigue. 

What really stood out to me throughout the whole album was the seeming purity of the sounds throughout. It’s difficult to really put accurately in words, but there’s certain “clean” tone to everything, free from distortion and artifacting. I’m not always a fan of such clean tones, but for this album it works so spectacularly as it really sets an otherworldly tone for everything. This manifests in different ways like on the aforementioned “Charon” but also a somewhat tense tone on “Ares,” which is extremely fitting for the god of war that we have all become so familiar with in his various incarnations. “Apollo’s” takes a much more wondrous tone with twinkling bits tonal lights sitting on top of pillowy clouds of synth pads, giving credit to the god of light and poetry. But overall, the album is incredibly successful in its sonic depictions of these ancient characters. So much so that it feels a bit like a soundtrack in search of a movie or game to accompany it. 


Comments

Popular Posts