Zui - Zerbricht Fels

 Released: August 6

German electronic duo Hui’s latest album is a sublime and disorienting adventure for a few reasons. First, the composition of each track is so hoghly variable that it feels as though none of the tracks are at all the  same. There’s a rather metallic air about it all, even with the more organic sounding bits sprinkled in. The tracks breathe in an unnatural way as one sound will open up a piece only for that sound to warp, melt, meld, and disassemble itself wildly throughout the track. Second, the compositions themselves alternate between being crowded and claustrophobic to the point of discomfort and sparse but odd soundscapes that resonate with a sense of emptiness. “In der Schwebe (ausgetrickst)” begins with the sparser foundation, giving a wide room to the discrete percussive textures and slowly adds complexity until the end just resembles a glitchy mess. 

There is no consistent pattern to this madness and the duo often leans into this lack of structure, introducing new and invigorating textures into crowded landscapes. “Papperlapapp” keeps things sparse for much of the time, but adds more and more complimenting and contrasting textures as the track progresses. But that seems to be part of the illusion this album creates - a sense of progression. The misdirection seems to be at least part of the point here, giving an impression and justice sense of moving forward when we are really just passengers on a vessel with no true end, only the sense of an ending in an otherwise directionless void of bizarre sound. 

Now, none of this is meant to imply that all of this adventure is dark and gloomy. In fact, most of the album avoids any sense of gloom or unhappiness and feels, dare I say, even whimsical at many points. The sense we get is not one of despair at being lost, rather a sense of pure enjoyment in the chaos. “Commoner” feels like one of my favorite examples here, giving a sense of a glitchy Willy Wonka-esque adventure. Granted there were some dark undertones in that story, as there are some hints of that here as well. But overall, there is a sense of wonder, excitements, and novel intrigue. Which is quite honestly the vibe which the album gives off as a whole.