Lakker Blur the Lines Between Nature and Human Behavior on Bold New Album Época

Lakker

In the spirit of the A/V show Lakker will be unveiling later this year, the elusive duo has coupled the conceptual tracks from their new R&S LP (‘Época’) with fresh visuals. Check out a complete run through of the record below, along with Eomac and Arad’s liner notes.

With Época, we were interested in the dynamics of patterns in nature—murmurations, for example—and how they are reflected in patterns of human behavior. And with its videos, we are interested in different aspects of being: the organic and natural, the spiritual and ethereal, and the virtual and synthetic. Three different states that humans seemingly exist in these days. We are interested in their interactions and intersections and their positive and negative aspects.

A huge question that has been pertinent for us is the one of organic vs. synthetic and the tension, or balance, between the two. As musicians who create music electronically using digital technology that is then experienced by people in organic and tactile ways, such as in loud clubs, this has always been a question for us.

Another increasingly important question is one of organic vs. ethereal as we both grow and expand our horizons as human beings, and question the nature of reality and existence, both physical and non-physical.

We aimed to reflect these things in the videos, utilizing digital technologies to create patterns referencing these different states, from bacteria-like organisms to abstracted virtual scans of our faces to beams of ethereal light.

Listed below are some elements we focused on in each….

“SHOULDER TO THE BAT”
(dir. Sal Stapleton @ Goldmoth Media)

Murmurations
Flock patterns
Cultural and societal shifts
Computer simulations

“100 BAR”
Virtual 3D scans of us
Camera flashlights
Artificial colors
Genetics
Persona vs person

“NEST”
DNA strands
Organic particles that form and shatter
Bacterial evolution—from single cells to complex strands to self-organizing shapes
Microscopic world

“JUGGLING OF NUMBERS”
Decay
Fungus growth
Rave hypercolour Saturation
The playfulness of nature

“KLAVIER”
Interaction between physical elements and ethereal, spiritual beings
Underwater vent
Micro-organisms
Deep sea
Deep space

“DROPPED SHOULDER”
Consequences in virtual worlds and real worlds
Disconnect
Fake news
Manipulation
Social media
Entertainment industry
Arms industry

“WHISPER IN YOUR EAR”
Digital simulations
Faces
Skin
Cloth

“BODIES FROM THE WATER”
Cosmic soup
Hydrocarbons
Expansion of the sun
Solar system
Macro
Micro

“MURMURATION”
(footage by Sal Stapleton)

Machine vision
Human vision

“DISCOURAGE IT ALL”
Virology
Bacteria
Beauty in decay
Mutations
Moss
Rock formations
Petri dish

FURTHER LISTENING