SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: APAULL – SANS PHOBIA

apaull
Sans Phobia
Furnace Room Records

Is it the future? Is it the present? Whatever it is, Dutch-Canadian electronic music producer apaull has seen it, and it ain’t pretty. With the release of the EP Sans Phobia, apaull compels us to look at the state of the world through auditory soundscapes which are at once driving, bleak, and chaotic.

This three-track EP contains two mixes of the title piece “Sans Phobia”. One is a stark and essential original mix by apaull, and the other is a rave-oriented mix by the Berlin-based artist Maedon. It is interesting to hear the two artists’ treatment of this track. apaull’s mix builds slowly, its construction deliberate and gritty. Repeated cries of “it’s all your fault” and “why did you hurt them?” add to the urgency and despair presented by the artist. The Maedon mix of “Sans Phobia” is equally riveting to the original, as it throws the listener onto the floor, forcing them to dance away the pain of the human condition.

The third track, “Not As Victims”, is thematically similar to the other two tracks, and builds in a similar fashion. What appears to be different here is the variety of sounds and effects in apaull’s palette. This track feels more hopeful. Its arrangement is more spacious, and its sounds are brighter.

In many ways, Sans Phobia is the soundtrack for life on this planet over the past few years: the bleakness, the isolation, the polarity, and the chaos. Many years on, we realize that the American Dream is not a sustainable model. Experiencing apaull’s music, we consider where we are and how we got here. Where we are going is up to us.

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