ROMANTIQ

Markus Popp is endlessly curious and his music as Oval
is delightfully inventive. Since pioneering albums in the
90s systemisch and 94diskont., Oval has continually
excavated new spaces in electronic music, leaving an
indelible mark on the landscape. New album Romantiq
finds Popp delivering his most light and delicate tones
to date. Like the plucking of harp strings, Popp's organic
and playful approach to sound is warm and bright. Oval
continually, confounds with his ability to conjure such
lithe, evocative sonics from software.
Romantiq evolved from an audio-visual collaboration
with digital artist Robert Seidel for the grand opening of
the German Romantic Museum, where a huge outdoor
projection covered the museum building. Popp sought
a more expansive definition of the romantic, conjuring
flickering images that glitch, evolve and collapse
in on one another - opulent neo-chamber music lit
by the paradoxically heartwarming screen glow of
social media flirtations. Popp crafted dozens of short
vignettes that each sought to evoke a specific mood or
emotion. Processed period instruments trace luxuriant
spaces that shift from low-lit chambers to glistening
palatial grandeur, glitching through past, present and
future. Swelling atmospheres emerge like perfume,
rich scents flooding the senses before evaporating on
the breeze. Romantiq's musical oxytocin is made from
ancient instruments processed and edited by a modern
electronic master with the utmost deftness and delicacy.