Daktyl - UNREALITY (Album Review)

This was an unexpected thrill I wouldn't miss for the world...

Electronic ambience that finds its feed in off-kilter melodies and watery depths before leaping onto the stage and demanding your attention with even more off-kilter leads and plucky percussion, this is the sort of oddball semi-techno, semi-garage, semi-future bass chaos that I live for. First discovering his music for his collaboration with dream pop duo Aquilo, "6 Letters" seems comparatively tame and unadventurous when compared to the insane production and instrumentals brought to the table on this, his second studio album.

The deeper I get into this album, the more I recognise and yet the more I am blown away by, as Daktyl allows his tracks to meandre not only in the build up to but also whilst in a drop, rendering the word "drop" useless in its typical, millennial Chainsmokers-y sense. These are big instrumental moments for sure, but their purpose isn't so much as providing a catchy refrain of a few repeated notes played on a powerful synth to replace a chorus and jump up and down to, rather, Daktyl uses these moments of insanity as the peak of a song that's built up to it, rather than built around it. Of course, this way of doing things predates the drop by decades, but EDM's defining feature has become a ubiquitous poison and a crutch of modern music, and the lack of conventionality is refreshing on this album.

The Andrew Huang style album art is far from skin deep, as it seems as though much of the revered YouTube musician's signature insanity is scattered throughout this album, only delivered in a more consistent and less scatterbrained fashion. I wouldn't say that the album thrives off its influences so much as it does its perfection of the sounds and styles it's built upon, but there's no denying that the point where Flume's best wonky beats meet Mura Masa's electro-punk charm and the curious post-dubstep of James Blake is the foundation for this bizarre record, and it's something that I can't deny has left a huge impression on me. 

The sweeping, mechanical synths of the unpredictable instrumental "Linear" makes for 2 minutes and 48 seconds of pure, unfiltered ecstacy and comes after the acoustic guitar-driven "Ku Ring Gai" that I wouldn't blame anyone for raising both eyebrows into the heavens at when listening due to its straight up peculiar fusion of sounds. Then there's the utterly intoxicating "Introspection", a song that has me enthralled, nay, entranced from the first note and still hasn't laid off impressing me even now.

I'll say this, the lyrics are definitely a bit of a non-entity, abstract and potentially relatable nonsense that often dominates this sort of electronic music that neither prevents me enjoying this album or accentuates my love for it. Luckily, the vocalists (and subsequent editing Daktyl does to said vocals) are always phenomenal and it's a "flaw" I can look past. Because it isn't a flaw. The more I listen to this album, the more the lyrics come across as interesting entries into a story that might not be essential to enjoying the album but stands alone as a great-sounding and genuinely interesting feature of the record I wouldn't trade for anything.

The transitions are flawless, the passages of guitar are unexpected and yet beautifully integrated within the dense but balanced ambience and heady modulation. A bit of an odd comparison but the biggest criticism of Tame Impala's last album was the lack of interesting directions he took the flawlessly produced instrumentals, whilst this is an immaculately produced album never shy of going in all directions at once and never losing focus.

It's not only the best electronic album I've heard all year, it's also the first time I'm giving out such a high score this year. That's right, I would genuinely consider this to be a record worth the good old ultimate stamp of approval. Unreality is a 10 out of 10. It's a masterclass within and outside of its field, and there's really no other record this year that has impressed me this much. There we go, perfect.

Best Tracks: Nomad; Unreality; Damage; Borderline; Linear; Introspection; Illumination; Asylum; Tides; To The Bone; A Thin Blue Line

Worst Tracks: n/a

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"UNREALITY"
Daktyl

28th February 2020

Independent

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