Buy: https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/black-merlin-scape-one-incl-gordon-pohl-remixes-ad014
Black Merlin – Scape One
Black Merlin – Scape One
Black Merlin – Scape One (Gordon Pohl Remix)
Black Merlin – Scape One (Gordon Pohl Remix II)
Black Merlin – Scape One (Gordon Pohl Remix III)
Artist: Black Merlin
Label: Artificial Dance
Release Date: 26-07-2021
For his first release with Artificial Dance, Black Merlin aka George Thompson takes a departure from the hard-wearing techno and intricate field recording work that he has come to be known for. Scape One is a fifteen-minute psychedelic diversion recorded in one continuous live session. While the track’s sonic characteristics may echo dance music from the turn of the millennium, its pulsating rhythm is more suggestive of the slowly evolving landscapes seen outside of a train window as opposed to raves from the late ‘90s.
Appearing on the B-side is Gordon Pohl’s remix of Scape One. Like its source material, this track is long and subtle in the way it develops over time, but Pohl dissects the most salient elements of the original to construct a new rhythmic urgency. The high frequency accent that guides the remix does so at a speed that recalls the rotations of Brion Gysin’s stroboscopic Dream Machine, which taps into your brain’s alpha waves, aiding drug-free hallucinations.
Pohl and Thompson are frequent collaborators and release music together as Karamika. While Scape One is not a collaboration in the strict sense, there is plenty of crossover in the working methodology of the two musicians, especially when it comes to constructing uncomplicated arrangements.
Records purchased from the Artificial Dance Bandcamp page come with a further two remixes by Pohl as digital-only bonus tracks.
Artwork: Steele Bonus
Mastering: Gordon Pohl
Text: Ilia Rogatchevski
