Silk Static is Aidan Garritty, a producer who creates his tunes out of his van that he lives in whilst travelling around Western Canada. As you might assume from his bohemian lifestyle, Garritty is a self-proclaimed “anti-purist” when it comes to making music, meaning that his latest release, the Silk Static – Catharsis EP is a tasty blend of numerous genres and styles across four tracks.
The opener Let Me Go, for instance, is an immersive, bass-driven track that is built around a heavily distorted vocal sample that repeats the song’s title. For a track that could almost be described as Future Bass, it’s quite minimal, drawing listeners in with its minimal percussion and starkly foreboding sound.
Next up on the EP are Stay and Life Without You, two more vocal-centric songs that play with the format of Bass music genres. Both feature heavy distortion but also some notable melodic and rhythmic moments; Stay benefits from an ethereal female vocal, whilst Life Without You relies on a solid four-to-the-floor beat and a repetitive but effective vocal sample.
The final track on the EP is Back To You, possibly the highlight of the release. Unlike the other three tracks on the Silk Static – Catharsis EP, it features minimal vocals, allowing the artist’s clear propensity for punchy production and clever genre-bending to take the spotlight. Choir-like synths weave between heavy beats and gritty bass, whilst subtle production flourishes add the kind of finesse that sets professional, individual producers apart from the amateurs. When brought together, these features make for a multi-dimensional, unpredictable sound that will defy most listeners’ expectations – a description that could in fact be used to describe the vast majority of the Silk Static – Catharsis EP.
Be sure to also check out Garritty’s work as his other alter ego To The Tide, which applies a similar attitude to electronic music that is a little more chill and melodic.
