Acclaimed musician, sound designer and creative Max Cooper releases two new tracks from his Motif EP
A discernible adventure in distortion and characteristically expressive “Swapped” offers the audio-visual artist entrenched in a void of techno.
As Cooper continues to tour his impressive A/V show, including recent festival performances at London’s Junction 2 and BlueDot near Manchester, “Swapped” elastic onslaught is crowd rattling, an intense transmission acknowledging both the power and endless courtship Max Cooper has with techno’s physicality. Veered towards the saturated and dramatic. “Swapped” is a weighty calling to the dancefloor, presenting an undeniably bold slice of dark techno.
The new singles follow the previous release and heavily supported „Vertebrae / Forgotten Places” a transfixing combination of glitch and drum and bass featuring Australian singer/songwriter Kathrin deBoer and his recent remix of DJ & Producer ANNA’s “Let You In” with the electro-acoustic and contemporary classical giant East Forest.
Mechanised and sturdy “Swapped” has self-imposed solitude on the EP, introducing a new level of energy by playing with the tension between electronic music’s intimacy and impact.
“There is a particular phase of my live audio-visual show where the narrative descends into industrialisation and the scourge of humanity on the planet, and where some techno is called for. I tried to be as direct as possible, and didn’t add too much complexity, with just one techno scripture blaspheme, swapping the kicks and snares position so that it has the effect of dropping early as a little touch of spice on what is otherwise a straightforward club bang with a subtle addition of a binaural trip to the dentist” Max Cooper
From the industrialised to the serene, “Stereoscopic Dive” is post-traumatic and inherently comforting, further testing the line between exhilaration and experimentationFrom the industrialised to the serene, “Stereoscopic Dive” is post-traumatic and inherently comforting, further testing the line between exhilaration and experimentation. The track was borne from an original score for a VR fractal dive animation by Julius Horsthuis, with binaural sounds linked to a 3D visual positions as they fly past our head during the dive into a new world.
Released on his own Mesh platform, Motif EP is composed by a producer capable of dismantling genres to render them brighter, bolder, and ultimately more personal. The EP features a total of six impressively contemplative and powerful songs that oscillate between Max’s heartfelt reminiscences and youthful remnants of 90’s rave, and a playful precision of dancefloor spirit as he incorporates the sounds of breakbeat, drum and bass and techno.
A collection of his influences and a set of motifs from a life in electronic music, Motif EP is equipped with purpose and emotional intimacy. Far from a dark moment of introspection but a diverse collection of audio-visual ideas, each playing a particular role in his live shows which traverse all his musical passions combined with being alive at this time; immersed in shared history and experience.