After a well received debut album, ‘7th Expedition’ (Transatlantyk), numerous vinyl EP’s including Studio Barnhus, OMENA, Father And Son Records and Tapes, and several live acts, which have taken him to South Korea and Japan; Musician, DJ and Producer Naphta, a graduate of RBMA in 2011, returns with an exciting new LP, “Naphta & The Shamans”.
This 10 track LP, where Purple Dubstep is mixed with Jazz, Psychedelic Rock is blended with UK Funky and Shamanic Dub is fused with Ambient. The LPs story is bound together by the first and last tracks, ‘Dim Daybreak’ and ‘Pale Dusk’ both featuring the vocals of Jaq Merner, lead vocalist of Kroki.
‘I’m escaping from making music with the use of vocals, specifically lyrics, which can change at any time. However, in this case, Jaq sang abstract phrases, which helped to create and emphasise a sense of escapism, the key theme of the album.’
Naphta says
A variety of genres are drawn upon to create the story of this album. ‘Explorer’s Judgement’ takes influence from Disco, Dubstep shapes ‘Stalking Knights’, Indie Rock is channelled in ‘Frozen Paths’ and Dub is featured in ‘Firelink Strine’. Here, Naphta cherry picks the elements from each genre which best fit his vision. ‘Recreating the past or paying homages isn’t my main priority. Throughout my life, I have found that I’ve been accompanied by a variety of different music, and for this reason I strive to show diversity in my compositions.’ Naphta says.
‘Naphta & Shamans’ is a thrilling album with an exciting, yet unexpected style, shape-shifting in sound. You may hear Shamanic percussion or the rhythmic sounds of the drum machines, but nevertheless you can still hear it’s the same artist who recorded ‘7th Expedition’. ‘In contrast to my debut album, I didn’t create a narrative to accompany the music. I decided to allow the music to tell the story through sound, and that’s why the order of the tracks is so important. I want the listener to be able to follow a story, identify a main character and discover their fate. In some sense I have taken influence from the narration technique of Hidetaki Miyazaki, creator of the game series ‘Dark Souls’, which had a massive impact on me. The album is constructed with cyclic listening, everyone can discover something different and change the narrative – Naphta says.
Forthcoming on the ever dependable Astigmatic records, it will be released on May 25th and you can pre-order yours here.