RPE Duo – Bananas

Wave Folder 

The list of equipment that Radek Rudnicki uses on the latest RPE Duo album is full of things of which I have never heard: a Buchla System 200, Eurorack modular, Octatrack and Bugbrand PT Delay, amongst quite a few others. His partner in musical nirvana, Matt Postle, meanwhile makes do with trumpet, piano, Korg and melodica. Between them, though, they weave quite a tapestry of textural moments that guide the listener gently through different atmospheres and environments, never coming on heavy and sometimes feeling as though it might just drift away; that possibly it was all a fluffy dream from which we will awaken refreshed and yearning for a stroll around the garden, dew collecting under our feet.

The duo has been together for quite some time, but seem only to record sporadically and this is the first release since 2014’s Playground. Squeezing fifteen wildly varied tracks into forty-five minutes, the duo fills the album with a playful and creative series of vignettes that keep the listener guessing all the way to the end. There are abbreviated ideas that run right through Bananas and feel as though they might suit being fleshed-out further somewhere else; but on the other hand, maybe the charm of this album is that it is dabbling, seeing what can be accomplished without having to adhere to long-form pieces, and it is true that it is best to leave people wanting more.

Starting with a sleepy trumpet loop and lazy synth beats on opener “Talking Melody”, you could be forgiven for assuming that this is some kind of modern take on jazz, but jazz doesn’t really have much of a look-in here, as if they are wary of being pigeonholed. It loops around your head and gradually dissipates like wreaths of smoke as a disembodied voice cuts and pastes across the sweet-as-honey trumpet. You could almost curl up inside of it, and that soporific feel continues into “Repetitive”. The early morning light blinks gently through half-closed shutters, and although the piece is barley a skeleton, it draws you in somehow.

Bananas is not all lazy and drifting, but even when slightly more forceful beats are employed, as on “Fast Flute”, they are still 5:00 am comedown beats, light and with a bubbling repetitive pattern from one of the modular synths that is warm and welcoming. The drifting garden sounds of “Campfire In Space”, which include the slightly disorientating sound of the melodica, finally give way to something more edgy in the stuttering textural randomness and disorientated ambience of “Whisper”.

“Bananas” is edgier ,with more visceral and frantic cut-up electronics derailing the trumpet, and you have the feeling that Radek is finding out what all the different buttons do on “Garden” while Matt’s trumpet drawls across the top. We hear a little piano on “First Year”, which is subtle and insistent; but the tone of the trumpet is just lovely. At times you feel that not enough is made of the instrument, but that seems to be part of the idea of the album. Nothing should be too forceful or too heavily relied upon and the pieces should evolve organically. There is a gorgeous repetitive electronic loop on “Raw Skeleton” and the trumpet attains some freedom here, blowing a little wilder while the sound of an alarm tick-tocks obsessively in the foreground.

There are harsh elements and the atmosphere can be strained at times, the sickening loop on “a440” being a case in point; but on the whole, the album flashes us a sleepy smile, looking skyward as bright streams of electronic sunshine make their way through the clouds and illuminate your face. Closer “Thank You Don” finds the trumpet drifting through an empty room, peering out from windows, watching and waiting as electronic static builds up in corners and crevices. This is a lovely thing, and not just for fans of modular synths, but for anyone who enjoys atmospheric texture and gentle trumpet meandering — you should really give this a try.

-Mr Olivetti-