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Works by Arjen Schat always seem to open up a magical space - a place where one may feel enlarged. Unweighted by the deliberations of the studio his Live at DEMMF 2025 (51:48) presents five existing works which were performed on 6 September as part of the Dutch Electronic Masters Music Festival 2025. Truly each section of Schat's first concert album exists in a realm known only to the listener. Every movement of this recital comes with a certain temperament, a structure of feeling entirely its own - setting a cool, gorgeous fire, then shimmering unpredictably throughout the listening space. Soundtracks for the edge of day, descending into a twilight of expressive lead lines, broken chords and coursing arpeggio runs, reality is abandoned for a more vivid world of electronic sound. Along the canted angles and motor pulse of building sequencer lines we ascend a staircase of notes both hushed and rushed in this celebration of cognition and the thinking spirit. The mystery of this style of music is itself a symbol. The closer one listens the more differences surface - in the delicate tension between this playful evocation of the machine and palpable evidence of the human touch.
Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END - 16 October 2025
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