- Improvised acid jams from the Detroit duo.
- Performing live requires a lot of nonverbal communication. Erika Sherman and Brendan Gillen have spent the last 20 years together as Ectomorph, using panoramic electro to talk to each other and to listeners. Over those two decades they've also run the Interdimensional Transmissions label and its party, No Way Back. When talking about No Way Back to RBMA, Sherman observed, "I do know that the DJs are not only speaking to the audience with their music selection, but are also joking or talking with each other through the music."
Stalker, Ectomorph's debut album, maintains that conversational quality: the duo recorded it live in one or two takes. This approach can have its limitations, but when it works the results can feel alive. Stalker mostly pulls it off. The music sometimes resembles the experimental electro project Hypnobeat, who also use longform live experimentation with minimal tools to psychedelic effect. The psychedelia of Stalker has an intense pulsing energy, beckoning listeners into spooky tunnels and dark corners.
Gloopy synth loops eerily loom over the tight four-on-the-floor kicks of "Filthy Demands," "Agate" and "Psychic Downfall." In fact, the tools stay the same throughout Stalker—zappy synth sounds, Roland drum machines and low-hanging acid patterns, arranged in ways that feel consistent but different enough to avoid being too repetitive. The character of Ectomorph's sound really comes through in the churning acid lines found on tracks such as "In Dreams." In these vivid moments, Stalker is delightfully freaky.
Tracklist01. Beyond The Six Realms
02. Filthy Demands
03. Agate
04. Crawl Of The Cthulu
05. Mysteries (Of The)
06. Stalker
07. The Alarm
08. Psychic Downfall
09. In Dreams
10. Quells