Rrose - Tulip Space

Relentless pressure combined with viscous tones and calculated movement sums up the new release from Rrose on Eaux called Tulip Space (2023). Rrose has always had a knack for subverting expectation, contorting, and plying percussive sounds to their will. Rrose's ability to create percussive synthesised sounds is some of the best I’ve heard, but how these are manipulated and distorted makes them unique. In ‘Tulip Space’, Rrose presents a masterclass of evolving tones as most of the track’s sound is constructed from a kick, some hi-hats and an all-encompassing living sound that moves and takes on new forms constantly.

The live sound I describe takes on a character of its own. I'd describe it as grotesque yet numb to how we view its actions, like the Amazonian parasitic zombie fungus. It's funny. With this release, it sounded like Rrose didn’t control the sound. The creature had an agender all its own. The writhing, pulsating bass that dominates the EP’s low end continuously morphed and transformed, birthing more sonic textures as it spread over the frequency spectrum. Rrose’s alive techno must be experienced as it envelopes speakers and minds alike. 

Rrose delivers crushing darkness with ‘A Row Of Cylinders’, merging guttural subbases that seem to thrash in the low-end. New pulsating rhythmic elements seem to engulf previous ones, like a viscous syrup being allowed to spread and new harmonics sprouting from the newly smoothed layer. Rrose continually changes the musical focus of ‘A Row Of Cylinders’ in an organic way, allowing the track to breathe through sound design and the alteration of sounds into one another.

‘Squared’ adapts the ideas of living music further using sound design to create an excellent alien behemoth that roams an otherworldly landscape, its enormity unfathomable. The squid-like ventricles of the creature throb rhythmically and exude quaking bass as it propels itself through the atmosphere it inhabits. The odd descending pitches act like communication, like some unfamiliar whale song or echolocation clicks. A similar technique is used in the track ‘In Place Of Morter’, but the subject is changed. This time Rrose uses sound to evoke movement. It sounds like something of great weight is floating above the ground, like the engine of a UFO or electromagnetic elevation. Again, Rrose’s skill is creating eerie and strange objects and creatures through superb sound construction to give presence and purpose. 

The intersection between man and machine seems to influence ‘In Place Of Matter’ as Rrose uses analogue notes to accent the slow, consistent thud of the kick. The notes buzz and shift characteristics constantly shifting states from pure electric to mechanical movement. The slower tempo Rrose can be read as the monotony of the machine continuing, but I also feel that with the slower tempo, Rrose can explore the textures between the kicks. Each note is given time and space to shift and evolve with such clarity that the listener can fully absorb each phasing harmonic and buzzing frequency.

Rrose displays personality throughout ‘Tulip Space’, but the awe-inspiring part is how Rrose can let the music speak for itself. As a result, the tracks genuinely feel alive and alien.

Tracklist:

1. A Row Of Cylinders

2. Squared

3. In Place Of Matter

4. In Place Of Morter

Label: Eaux (2023)

Rrose - Tulip Space