London based recording artist and soundscape composer Savanh Phaophanit aka palence is releasing his new EP Telophase via Playground Records. Over the course of several years he has garnered a substantial online audience as well as acknowledgement and respect from many pier producers who operate in overlapping scenes. A number of his tracks have been featured on popular underground music channels such as ‘the_accidental_poet’ and ‘FOMH’.
Using a 1971 Tandberg 4000X reel to reel player (given to him by his grandfather), alongside a collection of found objects used to record the majority of the percussive sounds in the EP, palence has created a unique and personalised set of textures and timbres to use as tools for producing. Running his 1981 Gibson ES-335 through his reel to reel and splicing individual notes into short stabs, he recycled the noises and drenched them with reverb to create bespoke atmospheric synth-like sounds. It would appear that through the multitude of long-winded and atypical methods adopted for the creation of this EP a running theme which connects each of the tracks is precisely the unorthodox ways in which they have been constructed. The EP’s emphasis on hand-crafted sounds and reluctance to rely on any pre-recorded or sampled material is demonstrative of Phaophanit’s desire to separate himself from a rapidly growing scene of sample-heavy production, whilst simultaneously displaying his enthusiasm for original and pioneering methods of creating music.
Inspired by post-rock and slowcore melodies, palence cites influences such as Explosions In The Sky and Low, as well as the likes of artists such as Aphex Twin.
Pushing his music under the self-contrived definition of ‘Post-Sludge’, palence annexes musical elements from a plethora of genres including Ambient, Post-Rock, IDM and 90s Hip Hop. Telophase incorporates Lo-fi ambience, meticulously tweaked drum patterns and an array of customised synths which collectively aim for a sound reminiscent of Boards of Canada’s warm analogue compositions. Ultimately, the amalgam of sounds contained within this distinctive five track EP clearly indicate that for Phaophanit, longevity and innovation are held as fundamental priorities when it comes to his work.
Listen to Telophase EP here:
EP Tracklist:
- Colour-less
- Sessile
- Iacta
- Telophase
- Scarp