Forthcoming on Dispatch Recordings, Italian producers Ephyum & duo Invadhertz present the Eidolon EP, a four-track selection of twisting, grinding, stepping progressive drum & bass. Venice born Ephyum says: “We were facing a hard time of course because of this world situation, but initially our idea was to make an EP to have fun and to try to do a full release together, and track by track, sound by sound, the EP shaped itself.”
He continues “the three of us studied sound design in Rome for a year before I moved up to Milan to finish my degree, but we kept in touch and have remained good friends despite the distance. The music has helped us remain bonded. Every track I make has passed through INVADHERTZ’s ears and vice versa and we give each other constructive feedback all the time not only about music, but also about life in general. After many years we decided to make something together, trying to mix our different styles and we are really happy with the final result (and stoked to releasing it via Dispatch!).
“Initially, I sent two projects to Invadhertz; two weird and aggressive tracks (Eidolon and Deadlock), and they were happy for us to work on them. We decided to remove any musical and mental boundaries and the idea was to really experiment and “go with the flow”, feeling free to try new things out and push ourselves. I must say that we loved this approach, and I personally took a breath from the usual modus operandi that sometimes threatens to block my creativity.
In my opinion, the magic happened when Invadhertz sent me the first melody on “Escapism”. I fell in love with it immediately. It was great to work on that project because we felt like we’d found the compromise between the melancholic melody and the “aggressive” Reese basses. In my opinion, it really represents the mood that we were facing due to the pandemic at that time.”
In ancient Greek literature, an Eidolon is a spirit-image of a living or dead person; a shade or phantom look-alike of the human form and the title track does a good job of invoking images of spectral beings and dark corners usually found dwelling in any of the best horror movies.
Ephyum continues: “It’s probably the stronger track of the EP in that it’s suitable for clubs because it has that kind of funky vibe, despite remaining a deep tune.”
“Deadlock is the most rolling track of the EP, suitable for mixing and double drops, I think. We really enjoyed experimenting with sound design on this one. Lantern developed starting with a lead melody, which is an unusual approach for us as we usually start a track with drums or bass. Again, as with the other tracks, we really enjoyed pushing ourselves and experimenting with different techniques and approaches.
Escapism is my favourite track of the four. We didn’t choose it as the main track because it was not our intention to have something so melancholy for the main theme of the EP. I like to think of it as the sad track inside an album that ends up becoming your favourite one.
We are very happy with the end result, and also to have been given the chance to release this EP with Dispatch. They’re a label that we have always been huge fans of, as well as one that has been a big influence on us since we started making drum & bass.”
Full of the usual high quality you’d expect from Dispatch and with a twist of Italian class, you can feel the effort this collective has put into every second of the music and ranging from stepping beats to futuristic frequencies, this really showcases the creative diversity of these three producers.
The Eidolon EP is out on April 2.