Hannes Kretzer is back with an immersive new E.P entitled “Species.” The E.P aims to take the listener on a musical journey by the use of dynamic space and juxtaposition in sound. Tracks such as “Binaural Cyclops” are stripped-back, almost vulnerable offerings that manage to engage and immerse the listener with its ever changing dynamics. Whereas tracks such “Mountain Queen” are much more full offerings that feature swirling melodies within its flowing instrumentation.
Speaking about the release, he says: “It’s been five years since my last album. I wanted to merge the experiences I had gained before in my new material. This time approaching “picture music” in a different way. Usually influenced by landscape, I was now forming creatures out of the environment. I wanted to make them very concrete and tangible, musically describing the evolving structures of living beings while maintaining the depth of sound and production.
I had the intention to play with the perception of space, bending our sense of the room we experience the sound in. My main source of reverberation for this album is a 40″ symphonic gong which I prepared with a transducer to be able to excite it with synths. -> surreal, contrasting rooms through one single object. We usually are able to roughly determine room size/dimensions through its reverberations. With running the tracks through the gong your mind plays tricks on you. Frequencies get stuck and amplified, seemingly going on forever, while others aren’t picked up that well and convey the impression of a small cave.”
Hannes Kretzer has been on a search for the perfect sounds to mirror his visual perspective on the world. The German composer has spent his entire career collecting sounds and distorting them to fit into his sonic universe. Synthesizer pioneers from the 70s were his first spiritual companions on his experimental exploration with sound, but his obsession with pop culture quickly got him hooked on the idea of bringing these contrasting musical worlds together. Hannes Kretzer’s unique musical textures and dynamics have been lauded by fans and tastemakers alike. With a very distinctive sound, and with releases such as “Species,” we can see 2023 being his year.
