The Normal

The Normal's self-titled first release was made in a two-step process. Martin, the duo's source of modular electronics, created dozens of generative organisms, built from a maze of modules and crafted over several years. From this group of pieces, Ryan took a subset of rhythm-leaning tracks and began pulling them apart, altering them, circuit-bending them.

Across 7 pieces, the resulting album gravitates toward techno, but meanders through ambient, breakbeat, and downtempo, all with a penchant for leftfield, experimental framings.

The five inner tracks underwent this two-step process, with Martin creating the first forms of life and Ryan mutating them. The final set of experimental techno tracks sound intentionally broken, as if a circuit board had been exposed and damaged in the process, just enough so that everything still works.

The album is book-ended by two compositions created almost entirely by Martin, showcasing the improvisatory, organic outputs of his rig. These two free-form, textural journeys make one feel like they're staring at a microscope view of many microbes swimming in a sea of ooze, or maybe contemplating one's own existence while staring at deep field images of the galaxy.