ital: endgame

Vertigo-inducing, nuanced and highly evocative, “Endgame” is a delirious pleasure to dive into. The album’s textures often explore inviting spaces, only to bring the listener “somewhere uncomfortable, perceiving constant chaos and collapse in the periphery of your vision,” as Daniel describes. This is especially evident on the haunting title track, its dizzying reverb lingering while the bottom drops out, leaving the listener suddenly on the edge of a cliff they weren't even aware of, and the glacial shift in “Beacon” from warm, bubbling chords to disconcerting stillness. Meanwhile, throttling techno tracks like "Whispers In The Dark" & "White II" burst with undeniably seductive dancefloor energy, each jagged edge and oozing melody uniquely formed. One of his goals from the start was “to keep things liquid. The music had to come from that natural, unforced space.“ Inspired by recent excursions into psychedelics, “apocalyptic“ strains of minimalist composition, and his sense of “eerily ubiquitous post-globalization culture-leveling,“ “Endgame“ is a techno album that teems with ideas. Recorded with a select arsenal of hardware, mixed with M Geddes Gengras at his LA studio and mastered by acclaimed engineer Rashad Becker, the final result is a shimmering blend of his swirling, effects-laden live sets with a deeper, more penetrating emotional and melodic clarity. “Endgame“ sees Ital unlocking his own sound and pushing himself to new depths sonically and technically, a figurehead for a strong international community as well as a truly visionary artist in his own right.