Release Date: 29 May 2026
Song Count: 11
Duration: 1 hour, 0 minutes, 4 seconds
Rating: 7.1/10
Description:
Song Count: 11
Duration: 1 hour, 0 minutes, 4 seconds
Rating: 7.1/10
Description:
If what I have heard from a friend of mine is true, then this marks the first ever instance of an artist themselves requesting me to listen to their album and review it - an unbelievable surprise given the rather humble beginnings and nature of this project, but certainly a welcome one! I hope I do your work justice on this review, p4y0n.
Released at midnight right on the day of writing, needles into stone is the third album of the German producer aiming to make highly experimental, emotionally rich musical pieces that use extremities in production to bring forth a one-of-a-kind atmosphere. With a highly varied assortment of eleven tracks making up one grand picture as its contents, this new record features lots of sonical contents to cognitively dive deep into, akin to a tangled, hyper-colourful web to sort through and follow in meticulous detail to fully grasp its scale - not unlike the cover of the album itself. Jumping into the listening experience, this progression of the project becomes very clear from the beginning and never lost sight of.
A blend between rhythmic and soulful segments trailed by imaginings of classic drum samples, collages of clutter and noise competing for attention with melodies breaking out, and bouts of rapid mixing doing their work, the tracks use their wide span in inspirations and sounds to their fullest advantage to create an equally wide array of forms of expression purely through musical communication. From the gradual yet striking introduction provided by "the lady / if only i could" to ear-catching beats in 6/8 that loop their way into one's brain like in "waiting endlessly" and the constant switch-ups of "seven minutes in hell" that at times sound like they should not even be conjoined into the same song, there is rarely ever an idle moment in this hour-long listen. Looking past the natural abrasiveness of the inspiratory subgenres at play, there is a deep core that all of these varieties within the album circle around to maintain a strong sense of coherence, like rings of stones orbiting a grander planet with a firm force of gravity.
The sheer scope of the music being freed for all to witness defines needles into stone as an album with a lot to say in spite of the lack of any outright singing and lyricism, and proves once more how effective the simple power of music creation and production driven by a clear vision can be. Without towing the line of relying too heavily on building up a wall of noise like many other works of the genre can do, the tracks here make clever use of aural contrast and alternation between levels of energy, tension and overwhelm and feel enriching to the overall picture that is the album as a whole. Overall an album that is certainly an acquired taste and far from approachable to an average listener not yet exposed to such extents of extremity within electronic music, but will certainly target the right cognitive itches with its more intended audience. Solid work, p4y0n!