Arthur Hnatek — Adrift

New Arthur Hnatek album, “Adrift”, informed by acoustic improvisations and club culture

The first album from a master of the drums, set out to conquer electronica 

The swiss producer/drummer announces his first full-length electronic album to be released on November 1st. Since his first EP in 2020, Hnatek has released countless singles, remixes and collaborative EPs that have been celebrated by the likes of BBC6’s Tom Ravenscroft and Gilles Peterson as well as being awarded the prestigious Swiss Music Prize. 

“Almost all of my productions start with improvising on the drums and chopping/processing the acoustic sounds to assemble electronic and sequenced patterns” says the Zurich-based musician. The result is a series of dynamic tracks ranging from club-ready bangers (Illusion, Coire, Adrift), dreamy electronica soundscapes (Chando, Delirium) and choppy IDM breaks (Chocolate Mushroom). 

As a critically acclaimed musician known for pushing the boundaries of conventional music and his memorable live shows, Hnatek continues to evolve and redefine the landscape of contemporary electronic music. 

"Adrift" is as a testament to his artistry, inviting the audience to explore the intersection between his UK idols such as Floating Points, Four Tet or Max Cooper and the sonic tapestry of a celebrated master jazz drummer. 

“The title says it all. Adrift, drifting, being caught by the current because there is nothing better than the excitement of not being brought back to port."

With just a synth, Eurorack modular cases, some drums, and a laptop packed into his trunk, Arthur Hnatek retreated to a remote cabin in the Swiss Alps in the late winter. What emerged is a collection of tracks that intimately captured the cosy, vast, and lush landscape unfolding before him as well as the first ever collaboration with Fabrizio Rat, known for his intersection between live prepared piano and 909 techno. 

Caught up in the euphoria of repetition, Arthur Hnatek produces pieces that seem to wrap around themselves - they are spirals, drilling instruments. Everything happens very fast. You are a passenger on a train and you think you are catching a detail of the scenery, but it has already passed. This music, in its apparent simplicity, sows clues, tiny changes that the mind doesn't have time to digest but that the body has received.

Everywhere there is the same desire to delve into what cannot be said, the melancholy, the mind engulfed by sound, the same desire to forget oneself. And to give birth to mathematical poems and sensual algorithms.

In the end, everything is clear. Arthur has come a long way to find something very simple. Beauty is the chemistry of opposites.