The solo electronica project of Hungarian producer and multi-instrumentalist Gábor Tokár, Ficture stream complex rhythms, IDM choonage, melodious melancholia and unstable bass plasma into a satisfying greyscale rainbow of surly tech-scapes that proved to be the perfect accompaniment to half an hour of downloading dreamcore imagery from Pinterest.
The original “Tart” (hopefully not a reference to the vocal snippets employed) moves from punishment to panorama and reveals Ficture to be a worthy candidate for a support slot with Martyn or Brothomstates. Synth twinkles and snatched vocal trills ride an unctuous undercarriage deep into the backrooms and could grace any twilight playlist.
The six (count ‘em!) remixes offer plenty of variation on the original’s trudge and traipse rhythmic rubble. The Yaporigami Remix brings out the phaser and slaps it squarely across the rolling rhythms while retaining gravitas. The Grosso Gadgetto Remix breaks out the General MIDI piano (not a promising start) but manages to tastefully apply it while offering a diverting variation on the original melody.
The Marco Simioni Remix is sumptuously bass heavy and veers into careening low-end pitch bends and damp digital detritus while retaining melodic accessibility. Moving on, the Roel Funcken Remix ups the tempo and dissolves the original melody in stratospheric, glitch chemtrails. The Ivan Shopov Remix veers closer into Venetian Snares/drillcore hyper-edit territory, and finally, the closing Serge Geyzel Remix brings in scuffed, scattershot D&B snares for a more soulful, optimistic coda.
A decent release and one that really cleans out the fibre-optic pipes.
Tart (Single & Remixes) by Ficture releases imminently on South Florida’s own EC Underground
