microcastle’s fourth offering of 2022 welcomes Adrian Roman to the label for his debut EP. Born and raised in Spain, Adrian has quickly emerged from his country's avant-garde electronic music landscape. Noted for his attention to detail, obscure musicality and inventive drum arrangements, Adrian’s craft shines through vividly, making each one of his creations an absorbing experience. A 2021 debut on ISOLATE foreshadowed what has been a breakout year for the fast-rising phenom. A string of well-received projects for MoBlack, Radikon and Melodic Diggers Equanimity imprint have yielded play from Dixon, Fideles, Frankey & Sandrino, Innellea, Toto Chiavetta and Trikk. Now continuing on this explorative path, Adrian makes his microcastle debut with a four-track showcase entitled ‘Disturbing the Perception’.
Played by Jimi Jules across the summer season, EP opener and title selection ‘Disturbing the Perception’ finds Adrian composing with a strong sense of space. With each sound being an event in a slowly expanding landscape, zooming out to reveal a world of scale in which depth and contrast coax perfectly with rhythm and melody. This indie-tinged, mood lifting excursion smoothly transfers energy into selection two, the thought provoking, therapeutic experience that is ‘Aeren’. Thematically distinct, as Adrian’s vocals ring out in timeless suspension, over a utopian narrative in which potent drum patterns and soulful synth phrasing resonate with a rare combination of hope, heartache, vitality and reflection.
Meanwhile, ‘Snare Receptor’ shifts Adrian’s modus operandi into one of electronic futurism, an eclectic approach that honors the wide musical scope he is most interested in. Building with a subdued pulse, its smoky resonance eventually gives way to capricious drum experimentation, where textural and structural dimensions blanket clustered snares and prophetic drones, ultimately resulting in a profound mood setting experience. The Spaniard’s molecular level of detail shines on EP closer and Fideles favourite ‘Lady Hester’. A titanic main room assault where tightly knit industrial rhythms chug mechanically against dissonant synth blasts and crunchy melodica, for a thunderous collection-closing dance floor escapade.
