Roel Funcken continues to push his craft deeper into exploratory territory with Drature, an off-world colony where modular synthesis collides with ancient alien technology. The opening track Spoaf introduces bubbling analogue textures and eerie string-like resonances that feel not of this planet. Heavily layered and rooted in something primordial, the music nevertheless gazes forward to a silicon future. The pacing is unhurried, concerned less with momentum than with immersion in micro-shifting, unstable atmospheres. It is a patient introduction that immediately sets the tone for the EP’s hybrid of cinematic unease and cerebral detail.
The title track Drature stands as the record’s centrepiece and most compelling statement. Its unusual 5/4 rhythm, peppered with clipped percussion and bursts of noise, feels at once alien and oddly organic, as though the machinery itself has developed a pulse, needs and desires. Funcken uses the space within the bars to let textures bloom and dissipate, creating a constantly evolving soundscape. That sense of unpredictability carries through into Cild and Rean, where sharp-edged drum patterns are offset by reverb-drenched tails, distorted basses and detuned pads. Both tracks exemplify the balance between structure and dissolution that defines the EP, offering enough form to orient the listener while never allowing the music to settle into comfort.
The closing track Musc pares things back further. Streams of glitches and irregular bass pulses join forces with waves of cosmic pads and form a pool of texture. It is a strikingly assured finale, demonstrating Funcken’s control over both detail and restraint. Taken as a whole, Drature showcases his gift for weaving modular unpredictability into finely judged compositions, yielding music that is exploratory without excess and experimental without losing coherence. It is a work that rewards close listening, offering a labyrinth of textures in which curiosity is not only encouraged but essential.
Drature by Roel Funcken was released 19 September 2025 on Science Cult
