Brooklyn-born and Berlin-based Dave Sumner aka Function provides a 4-track EP on Tresor Records, further refining his expert techno sound last seen on the label in late 2019 with his revered “Existenz” LP.
“Misinterpretations Of Reality” (which was released earlier in March as a single) starts the record off and encompasses the perfection of minimal simplicity with a masterclass in invoking divine emotions through sonic therapy. Equally catered to headphones and the dance floor, the relentless drums and evolving themes launches the EP with a bang.
“An Optical Illusion Of Consciousness” progresses the release with a meditative piece that taxis you deep into the spiritual mind yet still caters to the body movers with its bone shaking bass and kick drum combo. Reverb soaked mechanical percussion hits further transcend you to a higher state of consciousness while mellow and calming synth soundscapes glue the composition together, resulting in a familiar yet futuristic composition worthy of multitudes of revisits.
“Spiritually Unconscious (Dissolve)” begins the B-side with a heavy dose of percussion taking the driver seat in this deep and progressive number. Serine synth pads and liquid soundscapes wash over the beat and further the story of meditation seen throughout the EP. The 9-minute epic seems to go by in half the time due to getting lost in the trance-induced time-bending musicality.
The record concludes with “Compulsive Thinking: Repetitive And Pointless”, a track centered around a soundscape not from heaven or hell, nor positive or negative, but rather a spiritual truth frequency of mysterious origins. This frequency arouses deep thoughts with the neutrality required for logical introspection of the self and its surroundings, giving you one final meditation before easing you out of the outstanding listening experience with a single synthesizer soundscape fade out.
Since the wake of the global pandemic, lots of producers have shifted the focus from pure dance floor energy tracks to more introspective and thought provoking compositions. Similar to the vibrations Richie Hawtin channeled in 2020’s Time Warps EP, Function merges the two objectives together in expert fashion with marvelously organic sound design, elaborate audio engineering and tight mixdowns, producing an instant-classic techno release for Tresor Records.
-Kai Loo
Link – tresorberlin.bandcamp.com/album/awakening-from-the-illusory-self
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