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█ █ P U B L I C . S O U N D
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█ █ presenting our latest release
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r e l e a s e . i n f o
Artist.....: Cepia
Title......: Cepia
Rip Date...: Feb-2011 Cat.No.....: cm-01
Style......: Electronic Label......: Cepia Music
Quality....: VBRkbps Type.......: Album
Size.......: 41,0 MB Source.....: CDDA
r e l e a s e . n o t e s
Electronic music so often focuses on texture and rhythm at the
expense of melody, or at least sidelines it, so when presented
with something that so obviously makes melody its chief concern,
the effect is oddly disarming. My first reaction to Cepia's second
album, following his debut Natura Morta on Ghostly International,
was one of confusion. In some sections, its emphasis on
center-stage catchy melodies lends it an almost simplistic feel.
Along with generally brief tracks and an overarching preference
for straightforward structures, there's something attractively
childlike about Huntley Miller's self-titled album. All of these
tendencies are amplified in the album's opener, "Untitled III," a
soft lullaby with an uncomfortably predictable melody.
But those are first impressions, impressions that partly arose
because of the album's rather restrictive source material (or lack
thereof). Huntley Miller made every single sound on the album
himself: pure synth, no samples. The result is a somewhat
antiseptic and pastel record, a gently blurred IDM vision that
obscures borders and rounds off corners, all pale shades of
off-white. The closest analogue I can think of is recent Autechre,
particularly the softer moments of Oversteps and Quaristice, but
comparisons like that are missing the point of Miller's intent.
The 31 minutes of Cepia are tightly packed, with textures and
ideas reappearing self-referentially throughout, endowing the
small package with a hefty weight.
More interesting is Miller's inspiration: he claims that 1970s
classic rock lay at the heart of this record, rather than your
typical electronic music touchstones, which helps to shed some
light on the record's vacuum-sealed sound. There's something about
the dry beats and naked separation that drags up images of
shag-carpeted studios and analogue tape: think Fleetwood Mac's
Rumours, or as Miller himself will tell you, Neil Young's Harvest.
A recent mix for Self-Titled Magazine provides concrete glimpses
of these influences: when placed alongside Cat Stevens' warm and
inviting songcraft, for example, "Untitled III" suddenly seems a
whole lot more interesting.
This all makes for an album that appears facile and surface-level
but in reality plumbs impressive depths. Peek between the beats
and you'll find shimmering synths that flick on and off like
effects pedals ("Ithaca") or tremble like globs of mercury
("Hootenanny"). The album doesn't so much shift genres or styles
as subtly tweak and mutate its surfaces to fit whatever mold
necessary. When it goes ambient ("Public Address"), it's with the
same slurred vocabulary that its most driving and decisive moments
are expressed. In the end, Cepia is a gorgeous and nostalgic
little record that seems to exist solely in its own blissful state
of paradise. Even its anxious moments sound put-on, or streaked
with an exuberant ecstasy: the mournful album highlight "Me and My
Gin" extracts as much grinning pleasure as wracked pain from its
unforgettable cyclical melody.
--Resident Advisor
As genre tags go, "electronica" couldn't be less specific, to the
extent that it pretty much serves as a catchall for anything with
beats that clearly isn't house, techno, trance, dubstep, etc. As
genres go, it's one of few in electronic music to often attract
practitioners adept at playing physical (read: "real")
instruments. So it was with Huntley Miller. By the time the St.
Paul native traded his bass rig for a Mac in '02, he'd already
studied with jazz great Anthony Cox, played in a rock band or two,
and put in years of distinguished service with local live drum 'n'
bass innovators Suki Takahashi and Poor Line Condition.
Thanks in part to background, and part to natural inclination,
he's always insisted on putting a lot of music in his music.
Starting with his first release as Cepia--2004's Dowry
EP--Miller's consistently made a point of front-loading his
elegant chamber funk with way more melody and harmony than many
ostensibly kindred spirits would ever consider, without
sacrificing anything in the way of textural or rhythmic richness.
This capacity for balance makes him a natural for distance
collaborations: Cepia's first brace of remixes found a home on
2006's Atlantic Blood. A high-profile New York show and a spate of
TV-friendly tracks have since enhanced his profile, leading to an
invite from remix glutton M.I.A. and an understated treatment of
Maya's "XXXO."
Though more inclined to bang a bit than on 2007's Natura Morta,
Miller brings the same light touch to his second full-length. Even
the stuttering break beats on opener "Untitled III" are full of
light and air--all the better for accommodating layers of
interlocking synth melody. Graced with a central theme that
wouldn't be out of place in a John Legend song, "Ithaca" explores
the middle ground between contemporary boudoir funk and
instrumental hip-hop--not the album's only instance of such. It's
this manifest love of pop strategies and song structure (along
with an accompanying penchant for brevity--no song on the album
passes the four-minute mark) that puts Cepia well ahead of the
laptopping pack.
--A.V. Club
With the simply titled Cepia, Minneapolis-based Huntley Miller
returns after a year-three absence with his first Cepia collection
since Natura Morta appeared on Ghostly. Perhaps the title is
intended to reference how direct and to-the-point Miller's music
has become, and certainly not a moment is wasted when not a single
one of the recording's ten tracks exceeds the four-minute mark.
Despite their brevity, Miller's tracks are marvels of
construction, with plenty of detail squeezed into their compact
form. Think of it as melodic IDM-tinged electronica grounded by
crisp beatwork and refined atmospherics and served up in succinct,
three-minute packages.
"Untitled III" inaugurates the album on a bright and effervescent
note with jubilant, sing-song melodies and stutter-funk percussive
figures. "Ithaca" takes the kind of skittering beat snap and
chiming melodics one associates with Autechre but rather than
having the parts splinter apart Miller corrals them into a
clear-headed song structure one might classify as IDM-funk.
"Incurvatus in se" (Latin for "curved inward on oneself ") finds
Miller in a suitably introspective mood, casting his gaze within
to find querulous melodies and grainy surges rubbing shoulders
with off-kilter beat shuffle. "Me and My Gin" catches one's ears
for the loose, jazz-like swing with which Miller underscores the
tune's insistent melodic intertwine. One might have expected
something exaggerated from a track with a title like "Hype Man,"
but it turns out to be a lullaby-like interlude of gossamer,
waltz-timed melodic patterns. Softer moments emerge in other
places too, including "Public Address," a grainy, heavily
processed ambient soundscape, and "Cord," which caps the release
with fluttering ambient gestures.
The release is available in CD and LP formats, with the latter
perhaps the ideal presentation. Hearing the album's ten tracks
split five per side recalls the days when vinyl ruled and CDs and
digital downloads were options decades removed from realization.
Cepia is high-quality stuff for sure; one only hopes that the
infrequent appearance of new Cepia material coupled with the
album's modest running time won't result in it getting lost in the
shuffle. Miller's meticulous handiwork deserves better.
--Textura
p l a y l i s t
01 Untitled III 03:01
02 Ithaca 03:39
03 Hootenanny 03:56
04 Hype Man 01:37
05 Year To Year 03:43
06 Public Address 01:57
07 Incurvatus In Se 03:28
08 Me And My Gin 03:22
09 You Don't Know What It Means To Win 03:14
10 Cord 03:39
31:36 min
g r e e t i n g s
agw - amok - bass - bcc - bex - boss - cmg - cmc - cms - d2h
def - dh - disc0 - drum - emp - ftd - fwyh - gem - i8 - ipc
jce - jfk - jrp - just - khz - kinky - kw - lame - maem - mbs
mgc - psycz - r2r - rac - radial - rapid - rks - rtb - sb
sever - sfe - soup - sour - sq - tr - trt - ube - uc - upe
uki - xtc - yard - zi
respect to music lovers worldwide
never forget : go to the show. buy the t-shirt. order the vinyl