Perel, Stefan Smith – Mirror / SAPIENS011

RELEASE: Mirror
ARTIST(S):

REMIXERS: Perel

LABEL: Sapiens SAPIENS011
GENRE: Lossless, Indie Dance / Nu Disco
RELEASED: 2018-06-29
AVAILABLE FORMAT: 320Kbps + FLAC
DOWNLOAD SIZE: 41.46 MB

TOTAL TRACKS 3

1. – Mirror (Perel Remix) (07:58) / 10A, 119bpm Energy 6
2. – I’m Really Sorry, That Has Never Happened Before (Original Mix) (04:02) / 8A, 137bpm Energy 5
3. – Mirror (Original Mix) (06:06) / 10B, 79bpm Energy 5

Total Playtime: 00:18:06 min

Stefan Smith has channeled an elevated reverence for process, texture and synth-extrapolation with the forthcoming release of his “Mirror” EP on the Sapiens imprint. A relative new-comer to the land of rapid fire releases and dance floor formulae, Smith is deeply steeped in the art of music creation, performance and theory. As a graduate of Mills College’s revered music department, Smith’s prosaic understanding of music partially explains his migration to Sapiens, a label headquartered in Paris, France, which, under the direction of techno luminary, Agoria, has been expanding the realm of possibility for what a techno label can become. Collaborating with musicians, visual artists, film directors, shamans and sound designers, the young Sapiens platform releases may include “political speeches, radio hits, dance floor tunes, sensorial or cognitive music or a gentle computer virus”. Smith’s LP contribution will definitely fall on the more delicious end of this spectrum, having woven a synth-lovers dream tapestry.

As a sound designer and score composer, Smith has collaborated alongside Nicolas Becker, which then found him contributing work to the Philippe Parreno ‘Anywhen’ exhibition in Tate Modern Turbine hall. His work has further been included in Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s infamous “Dau”. Smith’s astuteness acquired from such experience is in full play on “Mirror”. Smith unleashes the piece’s three synthesisers on a grinding one-bar pattern for the duration of the tune. By limiting the formal compositional elements and performing surgically precise modulation, Smith accentuates the timbres and textures plied from the glowing circuitboards. The effect is of a Terry Riley type departure into concentric arches of space-time. The B-side, “I’m really sorry, that has never happened before”, demonstrates a recent shift in Smith’s work towards silencing the inner thoughts and questions which arise during production around originality or purpose in favour of a raw and spontaneous production style. Smith notes, “trying to avoid cliche can become a creative prison and risking its possibility has yielded some unexpected results”. This is the ethos that brought him back to using more familiar tone pallets, including the deployment of his TB-303. Berlin’s own Perel offers up an electrodynamic remix of “Mirror”, whose cinematic progression fits perfectly into Stefan Smith’s sonic landscape. Audiophiles in search of release, watch this space