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Efdemin New Atlantis Ostgut Ton

15.02.19

Berlin-based producer Phillip Sollmann – also known as Efdemin – seems to exist on the fringes of the Ostgut Ton roster despite being one Berghain’s longest-serving club residents. Sollmann’s latest studio album New Atlantis furthers this point. It cements him as a techno mainstay with ease, but it’s the boldness of this release that makes it stand out.

At eight tracks long, New Atlantis could have worked as one long intertwined composition. The album, bookended by two otherworldly vocal tracks, is a homage to Francis Bacon’s unfinished novel of the same name which imagines a fantasy island where culture is synthesised and all worldly sounds are condensed. Despite the lofty ambition, it’s an incredibly mature deployment.

The cross-pollination of sounds, all loosely falling under the techno bracket, makes New Atlantis as much a record for those with experimental leanings as those who favour 4/4. From ambient drone to guitar to whirring, hypnotic techno, Sollmann captures Bacon’s dream world to stunning effect, each listen demanding more of your attention, revealing something new each time.