Named Mixmag Album of the Month, October 2018

After releasing four EPs over the last year in his story of a traveller’s journey to enlightenment series, Bryan Chapman delivers his debut album, ‘7 Shadows And Iron Lungs’ on his own label, Monotony.

Living in seclusion in southern England, Bryan Chapman is part of the conveyor of talent that hails from this ever growing, under current of modern techno found on the shores of the south coast. Now an established name amongst the new breed of producers breaking through, Bryan has earned a reputation for making no-nonsense, heavy-weight tracks that have seen his music supported by taste-makers across the techno scene including Luke Slater, Adam Beyer, Slam, Laurent Garnier, Chris Liebing and many more.  

He has previously released on labels like Cari Lekebusch’s H-Productions, Alan Fitzpatrick’s 8 Sided Dice, Dustin Zahn’s Enemy, Joachim Spieth’s Affin and Butch’s Bouq. Now with his own label, Bryan’s aim for Monotony is “to create psychedelic and monotonous techno”, which should not be seen as self-deprecating. Instead think stripped-down, hypnotic, repetitive, linear, dark techno loops that intertwine around each other with subtle yet devastating effects, creating a style of techno reminiscent of times long since passed merged with modern forward thinking electronics.

The concept of ‘7 Shadows and Iron Lungs’ is about finding serenity in the acceptance of death. “It’s better to be a shadow that fades in the wind than live in an iron lung prolonging the inevitable”. Tracks like the deeply hypnotic and shifting ‘Cylon’ take us to a place where Jaki Liebezeit plays electronic modal slo-mo drum workouts from the heavens above whilst ‘Carcosa’ brings a subtle electro-swing to Bryan’s deep and evolving motorik groove. ‘Black’ perhaps the album’s cornerstone, anchors a near 15 minute opus of exquisite shuffling, psychedelic techno into a dystopian, atonal vision of ‘E2-E4’ (Jóhann Jóhannsson’s binned vision of Bladerunner 2049).

The aptly named track ‘7’ builds into a desolate soundscape of brooding menace whilst the far more direct techno pulse of ‘I Don’t Know What My Mother’s Feet Look Like’ is, considering the title, the albums most straight-forward club workout. Finally ‘Embers’ builds into a towering wall of electronic sound before the album’s closing track, ‘Dead Shadows’ embraces the cold kiss of death with ephemeral recognition.

Fusing future sound design aesthetics with minimalist techno principles, ‘7 Shadows & Iron Lungs’ is as an accomplished debut techno album you are likely to hear this year.

7 Shadows and Iron Lungs

Buy on Bandcamp

Dead Shadows

Embers

The next release from Bryan Chapman and the first since his debut album ‘7 Shadows and Iron Lungs’, which he self-released last September on Monotony, is a four-track EP entitled ‘Sila’.

‘7 Shadows and Iron Lungs’ followed a series of EPs from Bryan to launch his Monotony label.  He had previously cut his teeth with releases for labels like 8 Sided Dice, H-Productions, Affin and Enemy.  But it was on his debut album that he seemed to flourish.  Amongst other accolades it gained “Techno Album of the Month” in Mixmag and found a place in their “Top 50 Albums of 2018”.

On his new ‘Sila EP’ Chapman lays down his intentions from the start with the powerful techno of ‘Gallus’.  Some driving minimalism comes next in the form of ‘Aim Your Arrows At The Sun’, before ‘Headless Angels Of Rotterdam’ with its aural interference.  ‘Hunza’ closes the EP with a determined groove.  It can be difficult to follow such a well-received album as ‘7 Shadows and Iron Lungs’, but on ‘Sila EP’ Bryan Chapman has done it with ease. 



Press reviews for ‘7 Shadows and Iron Lungs’

“…he demonstrates his confidence and natural ability to craft the kind of techno that not only moves your body and mind but touches the spirit... Every track is infallible.” 
Mixmag [Techno Album of the Month]

“Often spectacular, always spooky” 
Electronic Sound

“…the album is a varied feast” 
CMU [Approved]

“It isn't often that an album of electronic music offers up equal portions of dance floor bliss and dark ambient virtuosity… Chapman's one shot at a debut is a bullseye.” 
Exclaim

“Out of the ordinary” 
Faze [8/10]

Sila EP

Bandcamp

Bryan Chapman - Hunza [Monotony]

Bryan Chapman - Headless Angels Of Rotterdam [Monotony]

Bryan Chapman - Aim Your Arrows At The Sun [Monotony]

Bryan Chapman - Gallus [Monotony]

Following his ‘Sila EP’ (MNTY005) featuring the track ‘Hunza’ which is included in Mixmag’s Top 100 Tracks of 2019, as well as his October released ‘Danu EP’ for EPMmusic, Bryan Chapman returns once again to his own Monotony label for this atmospheric techno and IDM four-tracker.

Delivering consistently high quality and thoughtfulness on his releases, Chapman’s ‘Rituals EP’ is no exception.  The EP is bookended by two tracks which Bryan has called “about as personal as I’ve ever got”, the earthly – both in name and feel – ‘Gaia’ which builds and turns like the planet spinning on its axis and ‘Lexa (Touch That Leather)’ with its breakbeat ambiance and sweeping approach.  In-between are the pulsating ‘Yūgen’, a term taken from Japanese aesthetics to express a variety of concepts including profound and mysterious, alongside the striking ‘Banuk’ which is both insistent and tranquil in equal measure.

Released at the beginning of February, ‘Rituals EP’ opens Bryan’s 2020 schedule with a poeticism that commands your attention from start to finish, feeling more like a mini-album than an EP.

4. Bryan Chapman - Lexa (Touch That Leather) [Monotony]

3. Bryan Chapman - Banuk [Monotony]

2. Bryan Chapman - Yūgen [Monotony]

1. Bryan Chapman - Gaia [Monotony]

Psychedelic Monotonous Techno - Record label created and curated by Bryan Chapman