toechter - Epic Wonder

A Closer Listen

The demarcation between pop and experimental is less a border between uneasy nations, with a DMZ to confirm the gulf between, and more the line where sea meets beach, ebbing and flowing to gravity’s pull. Berlin-based Toechter return to our pages almost two years after claiming with their impressive debut that pop is experimental to them, with a successor that explores the pop incursions gracing parts of Zephyr. 

Once more, the genesis of all sounds on Epic Wonder is analogue: violin, viola, cello and voice. Some of the melodies they produce and even some vocals ~ of which there are plentiful fragments and a few full passages ~ survive on the record unscathed. “Mellow Splash” is an unvarnished string trio piece, all purity and potential like a newborn, while gorgeous “Celestine” starts as a rich, soulful echo of an orchestra from a former century. Other tracks boast organic instrumentation in full stems ~ the growling cello that saws back and forth beneath the unsettling “Shift Souls” ~ or as flowerheads, such as the bright violin blooms of the title track that sway against the vocals and abruptly announce its close. 

Mostly though, the string trio is exploring the musical place of classical in the world of digital. And while the answer doesn’t seem clear, the uncertainty is a huge part of the appeal. They process, loop and distort the organic to evolve it into something else entirely ~ something that often tricks the ear, something that sounds pristine but has suffered to get there. Opener “Prelude” is a stark manifestation, a voice appearing to utter the words ‘what does the heart consist of?’, but glitched to obfuscate. The emerging violin is quickly swept away from a purely rhythmic breakdown formed of staccato vocalising and percussive hits on instrument bodies and strings. It sounds artificial ~ until you listen more closely. If society’s fear is about generative AI being able to replicate a human, Toechter is landing a counter punch. 

Many passages across these tightly produced tracks are fragmentary, like micro-movements stitched together to capture from different angles nature’s ephemeral wonder. Because at its core Epic Wonder is serenading every interaction big and small that we have with nature, its composition inspired by the promise of transformation that spring heralds. In “Alive, Abloom” ~ the record’s most distinctive piece ~ the cello’s arpeggiated swing rhythm mimics the slow plod of hibernating humans and animals emerging from their dens to connect once more. The haunting choral chanting that greets them welcomes a fine mist that has settled on the morn ~ nature at its most resplendent ~ but will soon drift away. (Chris Redfearn-Murray)