Review: Alci – Hiragana EP [SEEINGSOUNDS003]

If you were to trace Swiss producer Alci‘s discography since 2013, it’s becoming easier and easier chart the progression of a producer who’s grown in both confidence and execution in terms of his production. Following a hiatus in 2018, he’s is back on his own label Seeing Sounds with its third release ‘Hiragana’.

The label head’s particular sound can’t really be boxed into one genre as his productions range from crafting soothing deep house and shuffling minimal but this EP is arguably his most intriguing offering yet.

The most engaging track of the EP surely has to go to the lone A side, ‘Acid Drip’. Despite all of its introspective merits, minimal still requires those tracks which make you stop dancing and think ‘What is this track?’ 

It’s no surprise then that’s it’s been played as an unknown attention grabber by the likes of SIT and co. The glistening melody that sparkles throughout is sure to bring a smile to anyone on the dancefloor whilst the analogue twangs and soothing synth pads contrast wonderfully to create an incredibly engaging track.

On the B side, we have title track ‘Hiragana’ which is a track creates no illusion regarding it’s purpose and shows Alci at his dancefloor-driven best. The drums and claps seem programmed to stepping perfection with some smile-inducing pads, perfect for funny Sundays at Club der Visionaere.

However B2 ‘Apachi’ seems one more for the ‘heads’, when we spoke to Alci he listed Ricardo Villalobos as one of his heroes and Apachi seems to reveal the influence. It’s an oddball track which appears intent on taking the listener on an introspective journey courtesy of Ricardo’s ‘How weird can I make a track and still make people dance?’ philosophy. The Zurich based producer still has some way to go in making his tracks last 12 minutes or over, though.

Somewhat disappointingly, this seems likely to be Alci’s only release of 2019 considering the ticking calendar. If this is the standard he’s beginning to set for himself though, 2020 could be a big one.

‘Hiragana’ is now available to buy via Deejay, Juno or any good record store.

More info on Alci
Facebook | SoundCloud | Resident Advisor

More info on Seeing Sounds
Facebook | SoundCloud | Discogs