Anticipation/Voice of Saturn split cassette

There’s always an endearing quality to albums made for friends more so than the general public, even when the music in question is icy electronica, or as Chris Daresta calls it, “skeletal funk acid.” The second split from Daresta and Travis Thatcher, as Anticipation and Voice of Saturn respectively, is an effort for the two longtime friends to explore the evolving nature of their relationship through music. Daresta (also of Pyramid Club), who founded local electronic label DKA with Matt Weiner (TWINS, Pyramid Club) and Andrew Ford (Tifaret), first began releasing music as Anticipation about six years ago simply because he was tired of working with people in bands. Thatcher, on the other hand, began making modular synths as Voice of Saturn in 2006, but didn’t start writing music under the moniker until 2009.

Both Daresta and Thatcher mined krautrock influences for this tape, but the hypnotizing beats and scattered melodies never feel monotonous, and there are plenty of miniature surprises that break through the placid surface with lung-filling clarity. Take Voice of Saturn’s regal sci-fi score, “Apparition Scan,” a track with all the hypnotizing power of loading screen drone which winds endlessly until it’s surreptitiously disrupted by a soaring yet melancholic synth outro.

This tape is proportionately more defined and sparse than the pair’s 2014 split, but there are definite parallels to the two releases, especially in the crescendo-laden synthwave tracks from Voice of Saturn. Conversely, Daresta’s tracks from the original tape clank and whir with headache-inducing ferocity, a far cry from the tenderly cultivated, albeit skeletal style, he experiments with on this split.

The album is symbiotic in that each side helps decipher and define the other. Daresta’s pulverizing wash of noise on “Harsh Emotions” is rendered all the more impactful thanks to Thatcher’s playful melodies on the kickoff to side B, “Gateway.” Throughout the split, both artists display aspects of their sound that often are buried in the ether of their typical releases. For Anticipation, this means the jagged beats which are usually the centerpiece of his songs are superseded by the reassuring cyclical hooks that gird his tracks. For Voice of Saturn, however, the main unifying factor is consistency. Over the past decade, Thatcher has experimented with everything from traditional ambient music to harsh industrial, but on this release he keeps everything firmly locked within the techno and synthwave universe (although on “Outrun” he incorporates jazzy backbeats that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Ninja Tune release).

Even though the tape was released at the peak of summer heat, and Daresta envisions it as the soundtrack to a humid night drive, the meditative intimacy invokes the cool breeze of retrospection. This album isn’t necessarily less immediate than the energetic releases Daresta and Thatcher have shared in the past, but the reward of listening triggers different emotions. It’s Kramer’s yearning opposed to George’s craving, and it’s all bound up in a reflective mindset worthy of repetitive listens for anyone living in the twilight.

The second split cassette from Anticipation and Voice of Saturn is available now via DKA.

More Info
Facebook: @AnticipationDKA
Instagram: @anticipationdka
SoundCloud: @anticipationatl

SoundCloud: @voiceofsaturn