"Creatividad Artificial is a slab of ice-cold, dub-inflected steeze, which borrows from elements of techno, electro and halftime, without ever surrendering to something as pastiche as actual genre."
Alpenglühen, the record label that is kicking off 2026 with its release of Atàvic’s Creatividad Artificial EP, is the name for a phenomenon that’s brief by nature, making it all the more beautiful when it occurs. The World Meteorological Organisation defines it thus:
“Near sunset, the Sun may be hidden for a low-level observer, while the mountain tops may still be in the Sun’s direct rays. The mountain tops then assume a rosy, pink or yellow tint. It disappears after a short period of blue coloration, when the shadow of the Earth reaches the mountain tops. Sometimes, a second or even third Alpenglühen may be seen resulting from illumination of snowfields by the first or second purple light.”
A last flourish of colour from mother nature before deep, cold darkness. Distant, fleeting, burning sheets of ice suspended on the precipice of the vast Alpine sky. Anyone who has seen an Alpenglühen (henceforth my favourite word relating to the field of meteorology) in action, understands that its beauty is only enhanced by the knowledge that the spectacle is short, existing only at those brief transcendental moments that bridge night and day, light and dark. They also probably know that if you’re seeing an Alpenglühen, it’s probably freezing.
Which brings me, somewhat meanderingly, to Creatividad Artificial, a slab of ice-cold, dub-inflected steeze, which borrows from elements of techno, electro and (I guess? Despite the part of me that dies inside when music is sorted into genre by BPM (looking at you 140)) halftime, without ever surrendering to something as pastiche as actual genre.
For no, Creatividad Artificial, the product of the collaboration between two of Alpenglühen’s creative forces, Estrato Aurora and ABSIS, is (to both parrot Gen Z, to which I apparently belong, and speak earnestly) a mood, an inexpressible, indefinable mood that kicks off with ‘Europidean’.
Instantly, the track establishes that essential aesthetic of balance and tension. Dripping, cavernous space and distant landscapes combines with surgically precise sequencing and layering. Weighty, powerful subs the doric columns for a heady mix of throaty synth work, epic pads and percussion that’s drowning in echo and reverb, and gliding rides and hats usher you into your recliner seat for the trip to orbit.
‘Anacreonic’ meanwhile leans hard into those aforementioned dub sensibilities, all hazy slow-motion, a steady yet somehow fractious beat and those ubiquitous minor chord stabs. A warm, humming drone provides colour and some rounded edges to the razor sharp, seething veil of percussion that flits on above – little pinpricks of light, satellites spinning off into the void. Low growly synth bursts send the track off the end of the hypothetical cliff, into an audio immersion with the utter depthlessness of an ocean on a starless night. The track ends by placing emphasis on some warpy synth work that gets heavier and heavier, as the side sinks into treacle and eventual silence.
As we flip to the B-side, we’re met by something all a bit seedier. A bit nastier. On ‘Archilochan’, Atàvic ramp up the darkness (as opposed to turn down the lights?) with a sordid combination of those acidy synths and spooky little motifs, all underpinned by a kick that feels a little deeper than the previous two tracks, with a little more reverb to it. Ringing synths, the church bells in the mist-entwined graveyard, only add to the overall ominous tone of the track – rather than descending into the depths, it feels like something might be approaching us from them.
The closer, ‘Saphhic’, is the standout track on the EP. For me anyway. An almost-kind-of electro number, but unrushed and shot through with dub techno techniques that add a serious richness and lush, listenable quality to the entire arrangement. Some Rrose-esque synth-work worms away in the cerebral cortex, coercing the body into moving to the hypnotic rhythms, pulses and almost-melodies. The pads give a great sense of space and colour, opening up a wide panorama of sound, epic in scale and in high definition technicolour sharpness. It’s weirdly danceable, spinning off away in a darkly lit room that’s crisscrossed with sudden shards of light and colour, an immersive track that sits in that barely tangible twilight zone between late-night floor filler and headphone tackle.
Because that’s what this EP does so well. It exists in that narrow tension between light and dark, and is all the more beautiful for it. Your only instructions with this one go like so… Volume up, lights down, and savour the glow.
Creatividad Artificial EP is out now via Alpenglühen. Buy a vinyl copy from Inverted Audio Record Store.
TRACKLIST
A1. Europidean
A2. Anacreonic
B1. Archilochan
B2. Saphhic