Qasim Naqvi shares new piece 'Palace Workers' premiered on Self-Titled Magazine
26.4 2019
Composer and drummer of Dawn of Midi, Qasim Naqvi, has shared a second piece of music from his debut solo album for Erased Tapes, Teenages, out on May 3. Premiered by Self-Titled Magazine, Palace Workers is "an orchestra of electronic signals... an experimental track with a life of its own".
“My wife actually came up with the title and concept,” says Naqvi. “She showed me an article about the growing generation of young people who are addicted to work and productivity. So the music is about people who think they’re industrious, when in fact they’re slaves.”
With Teenages, Naqvi summoned all the material on an analog modular synthesizer — a voltage-controlled sound generating system comprised of multiple modules. Naqvi built this synth over the course of two years and amassed a collection of works for this album. The album chronicles both Naqvi’s understanding of writing for this type of instrument and the growth of the instrument itself.
“Even though this is ‘electronic music’,” explains Naqvi, “I didn’t want to rely heavily on a computer with an array of plugins, loops and samples, or exhaustive editing as part of the writing process. I wanted to treat this work like a live piece of music and have the natural behaviour of the machine shine through and sound huge, like an orchestra of electrical signals…. At times I felt like it was even rebelling against my instructions or surprising me with what felt like its own choices.”
Teenages captures the sound of electronics living, breathing and mutating of their own accord — almost autonomously — with only subtle, sparing but perfectly-judged and masterful guidance. Deeply rewarding on close listening, Naqvi has created an inspiring and synapse-stimulating new masterwork, within the analogue/modular cannon.
"Teenages, is a masterclass in the almost forgotten art of playing synthesisers for their own sake" — The Guardian
· listen to Palace Workers
· listen to No Tongue
· pre-order Teenages on LP/CD/DL
