Gas. The Field. The 4 a.m. set in Berghain’s new chillaxed room. At first, it feels like that’s what you’re in for with 25 year old Munich composer Ralph Heidel’s new band Homo Ludens and its new track.
Yup, “Sweet Dark Moves” starts unassumingly enough but quickly becomes enveloping in an organic way that separates it from some of its peers. This is some meta shit, drawing on all that German minimal techno razzamatazz plus “Evening Side” by Four Tet, jazz fusion supergroup Mahavishnu Orchestra, post classical composer György Ligeti… hell, maybe even a little These New Puritans, too, in the post-rock atmosphere and the straight-to-your-heartstrings, uh, strings.
Thankfully, there’s more where “Sweet Dark Moves” came from, and it’s coming soon: Heidel and Homo Ludens’ new album Moments of Resonance is out April 5 on Kryptox Records. According to the label, it features “seven compositions full of brilliant ideas, harmonic complexity, unheard surprises, clever citations, dramatic evolutions, big explosive moments, meditative moments and euphoric high points.” Those are big promises, but based on “Sweet Dark Moves,” not not true. The label continues, “It never gets boring, new details coming to the surface just when you thought you had it all figured out.” Big claims, but again, based on the evidence here, not a lie. Three cheers to telling the truth!
A lot of the time I’m a miserable son of a bitch, but God damn it Hugh Grant, love actually IS all around. You’ve just got to be looking for it. Tracks as good as “Sweet Dark Moves” help. Head to Kryptox for info on how to order the full album — but for now, stream the premiere of “Sweet Dark Moves” as many times as you need to down below (or watch the live video!):
More about: Homo Ludens, Ralph Heidel
