Crash-landing into the Systematic universe May 2020… ‘Requiem’ is the extraordinary new album from Rafael Cerato. It’s not the debut album he wanted to make, it’s the album he had to make.
“Requiem is a prayer for a better future. I’m trying to explain how I feel about the reality our generation faces, while staying rooted to my musical influences…”
Few creative spaces allow us to reflect everything that’s made us as deeply and as personally as a debut album. The music that’s moved us, the people who’ve inspired us, the thoughts that consume and concern us. We are products of our environment… For good or bad.
Like all of us, Rafael is deeply affected by the way the world feels as if it’s spinning out of axis. Lack of control, lack of trust, lack of time and even hope. In both climate and political concerns, the normalisation of mankind’s shocking actions has left him bewildered in a state of creative flux, creating a mindset that’s influenced his entire album and the whole way he approaches his art moving forward.
“I’m putting my soul and my heart to make people dance as much as possible, but with a message behind every track…”
The heart, soul and messages are clear the moment ‘Requiem’ twinkles into life with ‘Home To The Mystery’. Beat-less, unhurried, enhanced with vocals from long-time friend and collaborator Teologen, it’s the calm before the storm. From ‘Requiem (Dub)’ everything switches. Time for subdued contemplation is over, full focus is on the dancefloor as Rafael captures that looming, ‘times-up’ pressure we so often experience in day to day life.
Strong themes of urgency persist, both sonically and conceptually. ‘Vigilance’ is unrelenting; its deep chug bassline rasping away beneath synths that rise with barbed-but-bright crescendo. ‘Guilty’ heightens the awareness in a different way; by intensely focusing everything on a rolling tribal rhythm as a blizzard of chords rises behind. ‘Paradox’ is a stirring, insistent adventure that rises and rises into unknown. Recent single ‘Ouragan’ plays with tension and suspense without truly ever letting go.
These are just select highlights, each one crystallising the Frenchman’s elan for pressing, emotive, soulful techno. It’s not all noir and melancholy, either; as the album develops, so does a sense of hope as the finale tracks shed glimmers of light… ‘Requiem’ is a powerful, cathedral of a track as a Kraftwerkian vocal yearns for utopia while ‘One By One’ brings the album back down softly with a slower tempo and glistening cosmic dreaminess. Once again sung by Teologen, his voice eases us out of the LP as softly as he brought us in. Thoughtful, reflective and hinting at a movement or mindset that feels just out of reach but we know is there…
The messages are clear. So is the heart and soul. In ‘Requiem’ Rafael reminds us that there are some things we can control and have faith in: music and the positivity we can create through it ourselves. This isn’t the story we want to hear, it’s the story we have to hear…
You can now listen to the full premiere of Rafael Cerato’s ‘Requiem’ Dub mix on When we Dip. Enjoy!
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