dpr is Dave Oleksy from Oakland, California, and this is his fourth release on Inner Demons. The first three are all equally brilliant 5U modular compositions, and we have to read the liner notes to see why Dave chose to release these two tracks under another name. “DPR was born out of a cancer diagnosis and my desire to present my emotions in a musical form in a timely manner. Unlike the experimental live improvisation of prd, this project will be more straight-forward DAW-produced (dark)ambient.” < little moment of silence inserted > What the hell … To put this kind of personal information out in the open, to share it with the world, that is something impressive. And it gives a proper musical direction where we can expect this release to go, and yep. This is some really heavy and emotional work. But it’s so fucking amazing… As if he read the letter / spoke to the MD, felt everything falling apart and tried to capture this implosion of the world. His world.
This release has two 10-minute tracks, so it’s almost maxing out the 3″ format. “Metastatic Squamous Cell Carcinoma, P16-Positive” is the opener track with a beautiful minimal dark ambience. You can hear that Dave is not restricted to DAW-only productions because, listening to the sounds he creates, you can hear he absolutely knows what he’s doing. The layering is superb, and even though it’s heavily reverbed and filled with pads, the production is done, so it’s still very open. The title track, “Future Unknown”, has a slow beat and what seems to be a guitar as a melodic instrument. The way screams an inevitable loneliness, which might be the first emotion when you get that diagnosis. But you’ll never be alone for long when you make music like this.
Another release that will score high in my 2023 list and one of the more emotional I’ve heard recently.
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