The digitally titled debut album by Auckland-based Hari Breller is a refreshing change in tone for the NZ electronic music scene.
Unlike styles like house, or jungle – ‘V1.0’ is much harder to define in genre – it sits somewhere amongst IDM and darker forms of ambient.
The music is superbly polished and full of shifting, unorthodox timings and sonic movement. The drums and percussion are complex and interesting – constantly evolving as each track progresses.
Layered synths are subtle and spacious with a deep reverb throughout the album that strongly reminds of the highly revered ‘Untrue’ album by English electronic artist Burial.
This album heavily features warped and bending piano samples that provide a slight sense of physicality against the electronicism of everything else.
The way these piano samples have been mangled and manipulated make it feel like they have been taken off an old tape found at an op-shop.
The album is sonically minimalistic in that everything is thoughtfully spaced.
It can be easy for musicians to over-layer music and present a busy wall of sound, but here Hari Breller finds that less is so much more.
‘V1.0’ focuses heavily on that sense of space achieved through minimal layering and careful mixing – and as a complete musical piece, it feels confident and organic, giving the sense that it is exactly as it needs to be.
