Shapes, Melfi

Split album of the Berlin based artists Shapes a.ka. Niklas Dommaschk (member of Phantom Horse) and Oliver Koch as Melfi. There’s some peculiar mutuality in the works of Melfi and Shapes that add an unexpected kind of conceptuality to that split tape on hand. Both artists work with machines that are older than themselves, and it is obvious that their approach alleges some kind of antiqueness that sets the listener on the wrong track. There’s an inheritable sadness to all of these tracks, friendly and compelling in the same way, and there’s a vision of dusty, blurry glances of reclusive silence. These tracks transport an evidence of sound and melody as fundaments for themselves – sometimes krauty, old-fashioned in some way, making the synth a speaker. The kosmische road is only seen as a signpost, and the drunken comets still dither above your heads and ears and in your brain: This is a tape you should listen to while being alone or broke or drunk, and you know why.

Released in a hand-numbered edition of 110 copies on pro-dubbed chrome tape, packaged in a custom silkscreened cardboard box printed on 100% recycled stock with an insert and a download coupon.