Sawlin & Subjected – ‘Foreign Awake Pt.1’

Landing on Electric Deluxe at the end of the month (October 28th) is ‘Foreign Awake Pt.1’ by long-time conspirators of Berlin’s techno underground, Sawlin & Subjected.

Throughout the course of several releases under their Vault Series banner, the pair have collaborated on a consistently distinctive yet stark and, in their own words “largely faceless” brand of techno, however, in their latest work, the first of a two-part EP, they’ve arrived at a much trippier, more kaleidoscopic sound than that for which they’ve become known.

As with many great discoveries of sonic experimentation, it’s a glitch in the system that we’ve to thank for this brave new vibe. Following the completion of ‘Vault Series 10.0’, Subjected began to suffer various technical problems with his computer. Sawlin, in the end, managed to resolve them, but not before they were forced to adopt a stopgap method or two, opening the airlocks to what was, by their usual spartan standards, a spiraling galaxy of soundscapes.

These days it’s something of a classic tale, but Sawlin & Subjected had happened upon the iPad as a means of creating hitherto unimaginable effects and textures on the fly. After adding a vintage Jomox Airbase, classic analog MFB Synth, filters, stomp boxes and NI’s Maschine, a creative outpouring ensued. Within a few short Ableton Live jam sessions, they had concocted far more material than could feasibly be squeezed onto a single EP. It was eventually distilled into six new tracks named, simply, ‘Textures 1 to 6’, and split across two releases.

“Raw, industrial hues, distortion and chest-caving basslines are some of the tropes that have coloured their anonymous ascension to date,” said Electric Deluxe. “But for us they’ve served up something altogether different.

“Swapping their usual gung-ho floor artillery for swirling atmospheric vistas, subtle tones and cavernous empty spaces, ‘Foreign Awake pt.1’ sees Sawlin & Subjected paint chilling, post-apocalypse landscapes in three parts. Deep, dark and dangerously hypnotic, this is the two at their most compelling.”

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