A musician needs to have an arsenal of sounds. Ideally, you don’t want to work with presets in Garageband or any other DAW for numerous reasons. You want to build a unique template of tones and textures which will stand out against the noise. For Michael Klug it was his latest release entitled Different Universe where he started to explore new sounds with a new DAW.
Klug makes electronic compositions that involve layers of pads, arpeggiated synths and much more. You can hear this on the first track “The End Of Days.” The song starts off subtle enough with not much more than what sounds like a metronome that slowly mutates. Other elements start to arrive like a sub bass drum and an arpeggiated synth. Klug doesn't so much as sing as he does recite in spoken word. The beginning of the song at its best has some similarities to an artist like Aphex Twin. Once big lush pads enter into the mix the song starts to feel melodramatic and grandiose as he says, “You are everything / And nothing / Don't assume the earth / Will stop spinning just for you.” “The Summer Of Suffering” was a little more grounded with a beat and rhythm. There were still plenty of cosmic sounding synths. The lamenting is so dramatic at points it almost spills over to comedy. It was a little hard to tell the vibe that he was going for at points. “Either Ether” is a highlight. I thought the production was inventive and you can tell his new arsenal of sounds was coming into play. The vocals are dramatic and monotone as if he is some sort of demigod spouting off eternal knowledge. Up next is “Gas Cloud Suffocation” which was my favorite track. It’s dark and nihilistic. It sounds like the thoughts of someone who needs to find meaning and significance with their life. “Not At Home” is a collection of ambient pads and synths while the closing title track had some of the best programming on the album. In all honesty this album felt like it was coming from a place of pain, suffering and depression. And you don’t have to read the between the lines to recognize that. The search for meaning in a meaningless universe, the self depreciating lyrics and the yearning for something more than a mundane existence in favor of the cosmos itself. Overall, this seems like another step up in production and sound design. I hope to hear more as he continues to evolve.
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May 2024
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