The name of Philipp Otterbach will undoubtedly ring a bell to those familiar with the early days of Salon des Amateurs, where he once used to run the Substance Parties alongside longtime partner in crime Vladimir Ivkovic.
A sound explorator of the finest ilk, Philipp then moved from Düsseldorf to settle down in Berlin, publishing music for Grokenberger in collaboration with Quartier Midi and Cramp for years, before returning last year in full solo mode on the newborn Dutch outlet Tour Messier Records with ‘Humans‘ – an overwhelmingly ominous record, rife with blurred-out electroid tropes and brooding machine talk.
His latest for Knekelhuis, ‘The Rest Is Bliss‘, draws in a similar vein, although kissed by a more delicately balanced state of emotional ebb-and-flow. Best embodying that feeling of “floating in the unruly waves of life” as the press release very justly remarks, our pick ‘The Weak Song‘ generates contradictory sensations of peace and disquiet, all at once tear-jerking and oddly soothing.
The kind of slo-drip, soul-permeating downtempo meets ASMR-indebted ambient gem one cannot but avidly return to, eager to find what lies behind its finely knit veils of textural interplays, haunting vox samples and endlessly mirroring echoes.
The Rest Is Bliss is released via Knekelhuis on 1st April, pre-order a copy from Bandcamp.
TRACKLIST
A1. Interlude
A2. Dark Side of the Møn
B1. The Weak Song
B2. The Roamer Pt.1
B3. The Roamer Pt.2
Discover more about Philipp Otterbach and Knekelhuis on Inverted Audio.