Tephra EP by Alex Banks
Alex Banks pilots a cataclysm of new abrasive sounds with his EP, “Tephra” - Due to be released on Mesh 12 Nov 2020
NOTE: The first single, 'Tephra' is available as an instant download with the EP pre-order
The ideas emerged from two months in the rugged, black volcanic surroundings of the Canary Islands, Spain. Banks armed himself with a restricted set of equipment taken from his studio in Brighton and set about focusing on the core of his musical expression.
The 5 track EP draws an abrasive array of intertwined melodic structures - one that could only be formed by an adept sound designers’ skillset. The title track and single ‘Tephra’, is woundingly brash, jagged and skull reverberating, it paints a mental landscape appropriate to where the tracks were born, in the context of a melodic hook line.
Following on from his second studio album, Beneath the Surface which was released on Mesh in 2019. Banks’ reimagines a different story, one of which was sculpted by his time witnessing unearthly volcanic landscapes. The change in scenery he recalls brought a welcomed ‘change of mindset’ than the earlier intense period of locking himself away in his Brighton studio with intermittent bursts of time spent by the coast to foster creative thought. It brought a different intensity to Banks’ sound, one that impressively finds a line between home listening and club-focussed dance-floor bangers.
Max Cooper on “Tephra”
“Any words I can provide to say how large this release is are a weak reflection of listening the music. The first time I heard the tracks the energy was just oozing out of them into my torso, and that hook line in Tephra, it's something. It's so hard to make a melodic structure like that which is so simple and catchy while also being engaging after so many years of people trying to make simple and catchy hook lines. It's a fine art of big sound Alex is onto throughout, classic references, full human expression, no holding back, it's a beautiful thing to experience with a full frequency response system”.
Tracklist
| 1. | The Space Between | 1:26 |
| 2. | Tephra | 6:26 |
| 3. | Siren Call | 6:30 |
| 4. | Vegueta | 5:43 |
| 5. | Uber den Vulkan Wolken | 6:58 |
Credits
Written, mixed and produced by Alex Banks
Mastered by Bo at Calyx Berlin
Artwork by Btworks
Mesh 2020
License
All rights reserved.
Alex Banks is a DJ, producer and multi-instrumentalist from Brighton, UK. Praised by the likes of BBC Radio 6, Mixmag, Clash and Uncut, he makes music aimed at the dancefloor that thrills with its sonic intricacy and warm human feeling.