"Peace Portal, plays on our desire for nostalgia with genuine, near schmaltzy sentimentality in some places and tongue in cheek playfulness in others."
We are obsessed with the past. Whether it’s music, movies, politics, or culture as a whole, retromania has supercharged nostalgia from niche think piece fodder to a commodity everyone’s getting their hands on to profit or rally a political base. It’s easy in times of global tumult to look fondly on what’s behind us.
Social media pushes anniversaries and other memories, sending you photos of people you no longer know or who aren’t alive (and may never have even liked). Streaming services build off your previous listening habits to either curate playlists of everything you already like or use metadata to push something that sounds like your favorite band in lieu of discovery. Films regurgitate old IPs or add a cheap 90s throwback to lure you in. The easy commodification and exploitation of the past makes it hard to appreciate art that’s here, now, right in front of us, waiting to be experienced.
Canadian producer Khotin uses analog keyboards and drum machines to elicit that sense of nostalgia for a long-loved record on the first listen. The warm synth patterns paired with woozy, VHS-like warps and scratches wraps you into a comfortable space and is easy to get lost in and revisit whenever you need a pick me up. His latest, ‘Peace Portal’, plays on our desire for nostalgia with genuine, near schmaltzy sentimentality in some places and tongue in cheek playfulness in others.
“You Made My Weekend Wonderful” opens the EP on a gooey sweet note, as cascading, pillow soft synths make way for a voice message from an unknown caller. This is familiar terrain for Khotin, as he’s utilised this effect on other releases, notably ‘New Tab’. The song effectively examines our longing for the time when technology was a tool of communication and connection.
The voice seems genuine in their words of appreciation for the person on the receiving end of the message, despite our lack of context on anything that’s being discussed. It’s a piece of communication that isn’t a message on a screen but a document of a voice where you can hear the meaning they put into their words. “You Made My Weekend Wonderful” deftly plays on technology as a means of preserving a fragment of someone via rote slices of everyday ephemera.
Where the opening track deals in straightforward sentimentality, on the flip side is “Vacation (Spam Free Mix)”. Within all of our streaming options, ads interrupt everything, proving a minor or, depending on your patience level, a major annoyance. We are told that is the price of free or low cost subscriptions, so we deal with it. At the same time, hearing and seeing ads from the past bring up the same warm, fuzzy memories as do old photos of family vacations or long forgotten friends.
“Vacation” is Khotin winking at the audience, as he pulls you in with the recollections embedded within “You Made My Weekend Wonderful” and presents another compelling tune built around a sample of a robocall ad. It’s a brilliant pivot from the earnestness of the opener by giving something so superfluous and disposable the same carefully constructed feel to pull at your emotions before you chuckle at the ludicrousness of it.
‘Peace Portal’ is Khotin at his best, as he leans into and slyly comments on our cultural fixation on nostalgia. The inviting nature of Khotin’s productions shine as always, gently making its case as one of the year’s essential releases. It stands apart from other analog ambient releases because he is wise enough to know the emotions and subtle humour inserted into his tracks make it compelling, whether he’s processing contemporary malaise with the rest of us or poking fun at our perpetual longing for the past.
‘Peace Portal’ is scheduled for release on 23 April via Khotin Industries. Order a vinyl copy from Inverted Audio Record Store.
TRACKLIST
A1. You Made My Weekend Wonderful
A2. HP 1
A3. Druid Dance (ft. Nik 7)
B1. Vacation (Spam Free Mix)
B2. Oasis Bioreference
B3. On Heaven