See Blue Audio: ambient / electronic / beatless / cinematic / downtempo / eclectic / introspective… Shade rather than light...

'Azalea' – Bagaski (SBA #047)

For the final release of 2023, See Blue Audio returns to Bagaski. If the Berlin-based artist’s previous three releases were a trilogy, but in reverse, where nothing was quite what it seemed, then this new album, ‘Azalea’, unexpectedly came out of nowhere. What it shares with its predecessors, however, is an intense atmosphere, abstract and atonal sounds, and a fascination with hidden codes and secret numerology, which may (or may not) be known by the artist and revealed to the listener. With its harsh tones contrasted by a bright spectrum of sound, ‘Azalea’, as the forty-seventh release on See Blue Audio, also makes the perfect winter offering as the year draws to a close and the cold begins to bite.

Another recurring theme in Bagaski's work is that alongside this seemingly chaotic and mysterious world, the music also documents his own journey through life, and the everyday trials, tribulations and triumphs we all face. Individual and metaphysical worlds run parallel, then crash and collide, and the mundane coexists with the cosmic. Musically speaking, everything is created using the sonic possibilities of the synthesizer based around his distinctive blend of lo-fi, exotica, vaporwave, synth noise, cold wave electronics and experimental soundscapes. ‘Azalea’ fully embraces these as well as the artist’s passion for spontaneity and improvisation.

This new 11-track album may reflect his changing domestic life and thoughts, but it’s also characteristic of his creative process: turning quick ideas into complete tracks by a mixture of sound making techniques, digital and analogue, and sampling memories in a frequently changing home environment. It’s about grasping these ideas on the spot and finding inspiration in the most banal things. Image a worn notebook crammed with scraps of information, brief sketches and passing notions: this is how Bagaski begins.

As with previous releases, individual tracks reference his musical heritage. The opening track, ‘Hawkish Torso’, and ‘Tetesept’ reflect the gothic undertones of his cherished 4AD label, while ‘Flowers of My House’ and ‘Rebirth VII’ recall the bleep sounds of early techno. The beatless sensibilities of See Blue Audio are represented on ‘Luioy’, while ‘Strater’ is menacing dark ambience. The title track, as the name suggests, is an outburst of joy and colour with its swaths of warm sounds and human voices, a kind of flowering amid all the surrounding introspection and underlying anxiety. As always with Bagaski, the titles given to his compositions are part of the enigma.

The circle was complete, but now it has opened again, and new music sprung into life. Nothing is planned, everything just happens, and yet it feels as though ‘Azalea’ was always destined to be. A bright flower glimpsed in the bleak of winter, vivid colours against a backdrop of white and grey, and contradictions that somehow complement each other. This is 'Azalea’ and See Blue Audio can think of no better way to close the chapter of 2023.

Artwork and photography: Bagaski.