Under the alias Sigvard, Tom Hades presents tracks you’ll find yourself coming back to time and again on his latest release for the Skryptöm label, the “Chronicles of the Void-EP.”
You could be forgiven for not being pulled in immediately by flashy attention-grabbing sounds, heavy riffs, or a slamming groove sequence on this release, but that’s entirely where Sigvard wants to draw your attention. Techno with substance and style, rather than flash and hype tracks. The point of the separation of styles was to be outlined in each alias, where Hades would be about the big and heavy sounds, and Sigvard would retain an artistic and introspective side of his work.
This also goes in line with his collaborations with friend, ally, and compatriot Marco Bailey, when they started collaborating on the labels Materia and Fundaments to get away from MB Elektronics’ toehold in the so-called Peak time techno genre and focus on something meaningful and real that would satisfy artistic vision and experiments within the confines of proper techno.
That’s where this “Chronicles of the Void-EP” release is at, with Skryptöm having curation duties; this is a wise matchup, since the Parisian label headed by Electric Rescue is known for hosting artistically driven work. As such, the EP highlights Sigvard’s best ideas on this release, where we get to know the deeper, peaceful side of the artist, and provides some truly masterful, proper techno bangers.
The bookends for the release, “Radiant Eclipse” and “Twilight Mechanism,” really aren’t your usual fluff that some techno heads like to add on as tracks seemingly to hint at saying, “This is how deep people produce techno. If I put an ambient track in the intro of my EP, I must be one of those people.”
Only, Sigvard isn’t cosplaying in a deep techno vein; he really has something passionate to say. And that’s really what matters: you can have all the deep elements you want, but if it’s insincere, it will always come off flat. Ten seconds anywhere into “Twilight Mechanism” will tell you about the emotional impact and passionate intent, showing off the artist’s range and artistic prowess.
Touching on that very range, Sigvard lays heavy into his skills in the world of polymeter and subtle, gritty textures in “Black Ember”, “Phantom Glow”, and “Glare Void”, the latter being a good example of the stylistic choices in all three. Strong grooves, old-school aesthetics, gritty, driven atmospheres, strong compression technique, and captured phrase sampling are all over these tracks. Possibly with “Glare Void” leaning the most into a heavy syncopated groove that is classy as it is infectious to dance to.
While there were lots of great and impressive tracks to bend your ear last week, we’re sure if you slept on this release, you’ll be making it a part of your sets and general listening experience today and every day. There’s a great deal of skill that just feels more correct here than the previous releases last week, and to be honest, it outshines a great deal of the hundreds of other passionless tracks this week as well.
It’s for that reason this EP will be one that will welcome you back with open arms every time, and you’ll find something new to love in each part. Well done, sir Sigvard.
-Sean Ocean
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