Article by Lance Viggiano.

2016 has been a dismal year for metal in terms of albums one might want to carry with them for the rest of their aimless and futile material embodiment. Fortunately, other genres are not so bereft of endearing symbolic language. Kretchmer is an electro composer who draws from the “braindance” acid of middle period Aphex Twin and the romantic melodic sensibilities of Kraftwerk. Each track possess an underlying narrative whose structure reveals itself via the gradual buildup of layers to a moderate density. A primary motif is looped or varied upon through the course of a given track. To further fill space, chords occupy the background and often provide a resolve to the melody as it cycles. Par for the course for this music, the drum and synth bass tracks play with the open space in between musical themes and function as harmonic rather than strictly rhythmic components. The emergent polyphonic circuitry pays tribute to classical sensibilities but eschews the theatrical; drawing instead from the grounded drama of the moving body.

The result is a captivating mix of caution and hope as if one looks toward the future with a reserved anticipation. This is a fairly stark contrast from metal’s meaning in the aftermath of the realization of death in the personal, communal and cultural sense. Instead what one finds is a contemplative space within which one explores an idol of joy as a manifestation of the many ways in which the object gives itself over to the subject. Or as it might otherwise be said, one of the many ways in which we might approach the infinite and transcendent universe from our limited faculties. Music in the Key of Major explores the mythic arc of progress with uncertainty and acceptance; knowing full well that the future may hold a disaster but concludes that we ought to cherish the fruits of the trial regardless.

Tags: detroit techno, electro, electronic, electronica, kretchmer, modern classical, music in the key of major, nottingham, review, techno