Temporary Trax: CYPHR – Metanoia

The second in the Temporary Trax series comes in the form of “Metanoia” by CYPHR and it couldn’t be much further from the bright funk of the first. Most recently, the Her Records mainstay has drawn heavy doses of critical acclaim for his 6 track EP “Ekleipsis”. Much like that EP, “Metanoia” is a showcase of the many different influences which make him one of the most unique producers in this field. It starts off with a ton of ill at ease space and sparse industrial percussion before building into some dark R’n’B with marching band rolling snares and ghostly vocal pads. We got the inside track on how “Metanoia” was made, the reason for it sounding so haunting and also on a potential direction for CYPHR’s future output.

“I made this a few days ago in the space of an afternoon, pretty much. The only tracks I end up sharing are the ones I make in a really short space of time because I don’t have time to overthink them. It’s true that most of the tracks on the EP took a while, but “Ekleipsis” (the track) was the quickest to produce and is probably my favourite because of it. I will always spend a while filling in subtleties, I just think it’s important to ground a track in one session. Otherwise, it’s tough to come back to. The starting point totally depends on my mood and the track. It’s different every time. Sometimes I’ll have a beat or a melody in my head and I’ll work around that but other times I’ll just search through my sound bank until I find something cool. With this one the clocks had just gone back and Halloween was incoming. I found a load of scary clangs, hits and worked from there. I think the voice melody was where it all came together. I also start a lot of my tracks, this one included, with a singer or rapper in mind. I’m always trying them with acapellas, seeing what works and what doesn’t. Listening to guys like BC Kingdom, I can’t get enough of their vocals. Tinashe has a couple of amazing tracks too, like the Evian Christ interlude “Indigo Child”. Tracks like that where the producer’s work and the singer just fit together so comfortably. It’s a desirable relationship. Without a doubt I’d like to do more work with singers in the future.”

[REMOVED ➝ LISTEN TO/DOWNLOAD THE NEXT INSTALLMENT BY SUDANIM HERE ]

Temporary Trax: Ever since the inception of Truants, we have been proudly dedicated to providing you with the best content while remaining free of advertising and other external influences. We’ve managed to do this through a certain level of self-funding, as well as through donations from our wonderful readers. It goes without saying that this means an awful lot to us and we’ve been hard at work to offer you something a little more tangible in return. Temporary Trax is a new feature in which we offer you the chance to download something completely exclusive in exchange for a donation. 100% of your donation goes towards our running costs. Each track will stay live for two weeks and once we roll it out you can no longer get the previous offering. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. We’re delighted to be working with graphic designer Taylor Trostle to deliver you an exclusively designed piece of artwork with every new installment. Mixing engineer Jeremy Cox also continues the impeccable work he does with Her Records and others on “Metanoia”.

If you have donated £15 or more in the past and would like to reclaim your Temporary Trax downloads for free, please mail us at trax@truantsblog.com and we will get back to you with a download link shortly. 

Matt Coombs

Twitter