Prequel Tapes - Inner Systems

  • Share
  • Though Prequel Tapes grew up in Southern Germany and delves into electronic music's experimental side, his debut album, Inner Systems, explores similar ideas to Karl Hyde's 2013 solo album, Edgeland. The Underworld singer described the "edgelands" of his native Essex in lyrics about factories silhouetted against wide-open skies, while Prequel Tapes evokes the overlooked spaces where cities merge into the countryside. And he accomplishes as much through a blend of pastoral, Boards Of Canada-style electronica and the industrial sounds closely associated with his Berlin home. The excavation of memories—implicit in both Hyde's stream-of-consciousness and Boards Of Canada's hauntological moments—is the inspiration for Inner Systems. The album is apparently based on tapes the producer unearthed of goth bands he played in as a teenager, used as foundations for an audio bricolage constructed with old analogue gear. It can be difficult to tell where old and new sounds begin and end. The details of tracks like "The Comfort Of Feeling Numb" are shrouded in what sounds like tape hiss or decay. There's a sense of mystery about the whole project, one which Prequel Tapes has been at pains to cultivate (few artist details are readily given, though aren't impossible to find). Inner Systems is like an echo from a pre-Internet age, when distracting yourself from boredom meant daydreaming instead of scrolling through your smartphone. For Prequel Tapes, those dreams might've been about the post-punk and electronic music emanating from Sheffield and Manchester: elements of "When We Fall Into The Light" and "Scarlet Fog" recall the traffic of distant cities, while others resemble the primitive drones of Cabaret Voltaire. But for all the smeared and shadowy textures, Inner Systems also convincingly captures the optimism of youth. "Untitled Memory" touches on a dreaminess like Ulrich Schnauss, "A4J8-D"'s synths sound like slow-motion memories of early-'90s trance and "Dragon Keys" fades the album out on a soft pulse, passing by like the view from a train window. The contrast between that closer and the infernal roar of opener "Under Your Skin" outlines what can be found in Inner System's musical edgeland, where beauty grows from the cracks between things.
  • Tracklist
      01. Under your Skin 02. When We Fall Into The Light 03. The Comfort Of Feeling Numb 04. Scarlet Fog 05. Inner Systems 06. Untitled Memory 07. A4J8-D 08. Dragon Keys
RA