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Artist News CMU Approved Releases
Approved: Ätna
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 14 October 2021
Although their sound has never been entirely conventional, the last twelve months has seen a distinct upwards trend in Änta’s willingness to experiment with production techniques and jumping between genres.
Recent collaborations with house producer Solomun (‘Tuk Tuk’) and techno marching band Meute (‘Weirdo’) have seen them stretching out of their comfort zone. But it’s on new single ‘Smile’ – where they are working alone – that they really go all out.
The focus on songwriting that runs through their work is clear, but when let loose in the studio on ‘Smile’ it became a sparsely arranged track, with drastically warped vocals providing the different textures and emotional impact in the recording.
“Unsurprisingly, our new song comes as a surprise; dry yet dubby, ballad-esque yet beat driven – a strive for acceptance of dark passengers who will always be a part of the whole”, say the duo. “‘Smile’ is a metaphor for acceptance, even when it’s hard, and knowing that you can’t control everything, and believing that maybe everything has a purpose. Just like a rainbow desperately needs the rain to shine in all its colourful glory”.
On the accompanying video, which matches the sound with distorted visuals, they add: “In the music video for ‘Smile’, we go new ways this time and escape to a place between dream and disturbance, where a fleeting smile distorts space and time. Echoes from the future become déjà vu. Hypnotic and intangible”.
Watch the video for ‘Smile’ here:
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