French-born, Berlin resident Quelza returns to the Hayes Collective imprint with an EP of unique sound design, storytelling, and personal reflections in “La Danse De L’Albatros”.
Similar to the review we did with Temudo, there seems to be a thematic vision, yet there’s a lot left to be said or interpreted by the listener on the release. Indeed, the title offers a clue about the long modulations of waves and the gliding of an Albatross over the Atlantic Ocean—giving a feeling of the wind and air over a Portuguese coast—especially in the “Ballad of Willy Stompers” and “Plastic Waves”.
Yet also in the release, it seems there’s an idea of separation and nostalgia with “We’ll Never be Friends Again,” which has a sense of openness and astonishing rawness not heard since Manni Dee’s “At the Mercy of the Muse”… At least that is present on the vinyl edition.
In the digital release, the “Nachtwerkzeuge” track touches on some visual imagery and represents a tool for late-night DJing and layering. The other tracks on the digital version, “Atlas Express” and “Low Key,” are more or less experimenting with placing objects in a certain reflective room reverb algorithm and seeing how they react. This is pretty rare, considering the favorites “Hall” and “Plate” tend to be ubiquitous and make Techno sound epic. The smallness of the reverb choice here will tend to bring every larger venue closer together, like some perceived psychoacoustic compression insinuating that we should all come closer together.
Altogether, this EP is full of unique ideas, and Hayes Collective’s openness to experimentation and love for rich and unique sound design has shown through here. Quelza has certainly delivered on that front. Over the past four years, his trajectory has been providing forward-thinking Techno with a sharp mechanical edge that, at times, has focused on sound design with IDM characteristics.
Still, the tracks remain functional as Dance music without becoming self-absorbed brain food. All of this has propelled Quelza to become one of the most interesting and forward-thinking Techno musicians in the scene to date. “La Danse D L’Albatros” is another unskippable step on that journey.
-Sean Ocean
Check out Dirty Epic music recommendations here.
Listen to our podcasts here.
Find out more about our Events here.
Listen to our review picks here.
