Ital Tek – Mind Abandon

Description

Ital Teks new album ‘Mind Abandon’ takes a different direction from his recent run of releases, embracing a more human touch in contrast to the dense,world-building drone of his previous albums and film work. This time, he set out to compose away from the computer as much as possible working moreinstinctively and allowing himself to get lost in the music.
Alan found the most natural starting point was his own voice, processing vocals into shifting pads and textures. His guitar sits at the centre of much of therecord, joined by live, hand-played percussion and effects, often captured in quick, spontaneous performances. The result is an album of spacious,contrasting dynamics, with textures pressing against each other and rhythmic elements fighting to surface from glutinous, layered sound.
It feels like a very introspective record for me, Alan says. Losing my sense of identity/self as part of the process – the increasing effort to calm my mind andembrace humanity/imperfection in the music. This path made sense as a jumping off point for a lot of the music to be vocal or guitar experiments – singing inideas and then processing to become less identifiable.”
The album feels carved and three-dimensional, weaving industrial and shoegaze influences with the darker edges of post-rock. Subtly embedded in itsarchitecture are traces of dubstep dynamics a sound that remains part of Alans DNA.
Opening track The Ice Is Thin is driven almost entirely by live guitar and keyboard, awash in reverb. On A Hidden Path, everything apart from the drumsstems from processed vocals and guitar, with a fleeting appearance from his daughters toy ukulele. It unfolds like the beginning of a journey vast andcinematic nodding to the widescreen tension of Ennio Morricone before building into a towering wall of noise.
Killswitch disorients with pounding kick drums crafted from twanging acoustic guitar, pushing through layers of static-charged chords. Undertow spiralsoutward on looping guitar figures set against a pulsing Rhodes. Misted, built around a rare four-to-the-floor beat, uses guitar as a driving rhythmic device,opening with a bassline that wouldnt feel out of place on a The Cure record. Imagined Landscape introduces icy keyboard textures that foreshadow the darkcloser, The Pull, where an arpeggiated bassline reminiscent of DAF underpins unnerving, internalised sound design that feels as though its scratching fromwithin.
Mind Abandon closes on a heavy, stalking note fresh sounds drawn from the body and the heart.

Tracklist:

The Ice Is Thin
A Hidden Path
Memory Leak
Untethered
Kill Switch
Mind Abandon
Undertow
Misted
Imagined Landscape
The Pull