We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Apex

by Merrin Karras

supported by
Manuel
Manuel thumbnail
Manuel Fantastic, minimalistic, dreamy.
caldeez
caldeez thumbnail
caldeez I love this album because I can completely leave this plane of existence and travel to another world when listening. I love my strange melancholic world made of synth sound and color. Thanks for creating this! Favorite track: Isolation.
sonorescent
sonorescent thumbnail
sonorescent Love the album. Great sounds Favorite track: Void.
Stop and Breathe Into The Wild
Stop and Breathe Into The Wild thumbnail
Stop and Breathe Into The Wild A Mind Blowing album. Travelling without moving ! Thanks to John Beltran for his compilation on Delsin Records the past year, i've (re)found a great artist, and OF COURSE thanks to Merrin Karras/Chymera :) Favorite track: The Veldt.
Brenden LaBonte
Brenden LaBonte thumbnail
Brenden LaBonte So happy I was able to pick this up on vinyl. Now I just need an assistant to change the side over so I don't have to stand up and interrupt the happy place it takes me to!
more...
/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 103 A Strangely Isolated Place releases available on Bandcamp and save 80%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Socha, Merrin Karras / Live, Ø, 2023 | Label Compilation (mixed by todos), Iris, Violet Visionary, Fantasy Zone, 1994 (Versions), and 95 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $111.60 USD or more (80% OFF)

     

  • ASIPV004 + ASIPV005 Vinyl Package
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited amount of Markus Guentner Theia (ASIPV004) vinyl remaining to purchase at a special price alongside Merrin Karras (ASIPV005). You will receive an immediate download of Merrin Karras with this purchase, and the download for Markus Guentner is available as card within the vinyl.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Apex via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • CDr + artwork print, hand numbered, recycled jacket
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    CDr house in a recycled jacket, with ASIP stamp, including a print of the 4x4inch artwork inspiration. Hand numbered edition of 20. 1 per order.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Apex via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Limited Edition Green Double Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Double "Balearic Sea Green" vinyl mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri. Matte gatefold sleeve designed by Nick Brzostowski. Includes HQ download.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Apex via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
Catharsis 05:24
2.
Elevate 07:29
3.
Apex 05:12
4.
Severance 07:16
5.
The Veldt 07:04
6.
Liberant 06:36 video
7.
Void 08:34 video
8.
Isolation 06:24

about

Producing and playing under Chymera for more than 15 years, Brendan Gregoriy’s distinctive take on house and techno has seen him play at iconic venues like Panorama Bar, Womb, Output, and Rex Club, and release music on respected labels including Ovum, NRK, Delsin and Cocoon.

2016 sees Brendan take on a new alias...

“I'd just finished a particularly grueling album and I just didn't enjoy the process.,” Gregoriy describes. "Around that time, I started listening to people like Steve Moore & Oneohtrix Point Never and it blew my mind. I tried making a few sketches and realised that I enjoyed it a lot more and this became a gateway into discovering ambient properly.”

Inspired by the sounds of artists like Klaus Schulze, Biosphere and Abul Mogard, and finding renewed focus in creating without external pressures or deadlines, Gregoriy’s ambient experimentation emerged, fully-formed, as Merrin Karras.

Written and recorded in two Berlin winters, it’s a record driven by a widescreen contrast between celestial beauty and engulfing black hole intent. Flawlessly produced, Vangelis panorama and vintage sci-fi exist in a space where drums and rhythmic elements have been willfully stripped out — and where the synths can truly breathe.

The process of album creation benefited from new freedoms that Gregoriy bestowed upon himself. “I decided to set myself a few ground rules for the music: no drums or percussive elements and no samples. They helped me to focus but, in a sense, it's not such a drastic shift. I've always made melodies the focus point of all my tracks and it was quite liberating to make music where I didn't have to worry about the best way to arrange it for the dancefloor.”

The results are remarkable. Combining his gilded production with an armory of hardware (including the Moog Minitaur, Vermona Mono Lancet, Juno 106, Nord Rack 2, and the Korg Monotron) Apex serves as both a modern ode to the synthesizer and a reverential nod to the early pioneers. Freed from the focus of the club, it allowed Gregoriy to craft a narrative; each track following a similar arc as the tension builds before dissolving. From the spectral ebb and flow of title track to the Blade-running intent of “Elevate"; the unsettling darkness of “Severance" to the star-lit swirl of “Liberant", these beat-less constructs bloom and exhale with an uninhibited cinematic purpose.

“I wanted to make something that I could listen to when I travel, something I could enjoy just for what it was,” he concludes. "I only realized when I was about 80% done that I had the makings of an album, and one I actually liked through and through. I didn't want to take any tracks out, or make other ones to add to it. I’m really proud of the album because it's something that I still listen to and enjoy. Hopefully other people will feel the same.”

credits

released July 29, 2016

Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri @ Black Knoll Studio www.blackknollstudio.com
Artwork by Nick Brzostowski www.glassupandstoski.com

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

A Strangely Isolated Place Los Angeles, California

N/A mbient

Visit our sub-label @ 9128live.bandcamp.com

UK/EU/ROW shipping:
asip.me/scadets

contact / help

Contact A Strangely Isolated Place

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

A Strangely Isolated Place recommends:

If you like Apex, you may also like: