Five years after his critically acclaimed debut Drone Logic, London-based producer Daniel Avery has announced the release of his highly anticipated second album Song For Alpha, set for release on 6th April 2018
In the years since his debut, Avery has helmed a DJ-Kicks mix CD, resided over a monthly radio show for NTS Live, curated an extensive remix compilation and collaborated on a series of side-projects including a recent release with Nine Inch Nails synth specialist Alessandro Cortini; he has toured relentlessly, cementing a reputation as one of the defining techno DJs of the decade. He has also worked studiously on what he wanted to say next as a producer.
Song For Alpha is Avery’s exploration of the space in which home listening and club music intersect, in no small part inspired by his transient life spent between nightclubs, flights, the passenger seats of cars and hotel rooms. He confirms, “Drone Logic’s spiritual home was the dancefloor. This record’s is definitely the road. Those late nights and hazy mornings, finding inspiration beyond the fog.”
With newfound energy and time to develop, Avery’s sonic vocabulary has expanded. Here, the booming sound of the big room is brilliantly countered by the music of the small hours. Where celestial ambient lullabies ‘First Light’ and ‘Days From Now’ sit perfectly next to the mesmeric techno assault of ‘Diminuendo’ and ‘Sensation’; where both ‘Projector’ and ‘Clear’ evoke early rave records, only ones engulfed by waves of beautiful cyclonic distortion. Much like his recent excursions with Cortini, Song For Alpha sees Avery take his signature psychedelic-electronic sound to new dimensions, a sound that plays to the head as much as the body.
“I’ve become increasingly interested in those moments in a club when the outside world becomes little more than an inconsequential thought at the back of your head. Eyes closed as opposed to hands in the air. A light emerging from the darkness - this is the idea I repeatedly returned to in the studio. The more time you spend with it the deeper you fall. Close your eyes, press repeat.”