Ambientrance (US)

Sogar’s Jürgen Heckel stirs assorted fragments of click and drone into his Apikal.Blend… the resulting flavors are hard to define, yet quite tantalizing.

When the crispy particles of Isolohr more-or-less coalesce, it’s like finding a hidden pattern within a sonic puzzle; the staticy rhythms slur to a close. More radically disjointed, “Üi Spalt” still manages to evoke serenity… until it begins to crazily spark and squelch. “Solang”‘s stipple-beats flicker across undulating glowstreams, like dustmotes dancing in the wind.

Gleaming shards and beams warp and weave through placid-yet-disintegrated “Sonst_Wesentlich”, followed by the shimmering emissions from “Harm_red”‘s crystalline geyser. “Com.3.6” (7:30) initially trickles with insectoid fluids, then begins to drift on warmer organ-like smears accented with textural grit… reaching a strangely dreamy crescendo.

The mind fills in the gaps of twitch-yet-lovely “Monohr”‘s fractured rainbow, so the hovering radiance seems almost continual… and always etched with subatomic decorations. Short-running “Melogen.Desk” (3:14) offers a final taste of metallic sizzles and tonal blurs.

An Apikal.Blend of topical microsounds from Sogar flirts with your ears, never quite revealing whether it’s more music or more noise… of course, sometimes being thusly teased is a delicious experience in itself. So nice! A-