Sprouted And Formed

Rawtekk's sound present in Sprouted And Formed retains their ethereal neuropop disposition, but also their galvanized, neurotic, and often thickly layered sound design.

Their debut album pushes a slightly scattered yet consistently high-quality sound. Preferring to remain within the realms of drum n bass - but unafraid to breach them - Sprouted And Formed plays, as a debut album should, to the duo's strengths. The married couple of Stefan and Christine Westphal (the latter of whom does much of the album's vocal work) are no strangers to the uncompromising ecosystem of neurofunk - they have navigated its waves through much of the genre's early stages, charting their own path across its deceptively vast ocean of potential. What Sprouted And Formed is, then, is perhaps unclear, as it does not seem to posit any path of its own, being without direction and somewhat amorphous, yet as a body of artistic work it remains compelling nevertheless.

Perhaps this is owed to Rawtekk's particular cultivation of style they have harnessed. Their 'neuropop' is recognisable immediately, as is their aptitude for cinematicism - "A Magnanimous Kind's Will" brings forth thumping soundscapes behind Christine's broad, ethereal vocal - and though the cinematicism never truly becomes a mould for the album as a whole, it frames certain tracks wondrously, often tracks that already target the neuropop sound. It's a very specific sound, with the vocal being breathy and transcendent, often emphasizing texture at the cost of lyrical comprehensibility, whilst underneath lies an offbeat yet vaguely mainstream-recognisable concoction of grand synths and occasionally unforgiving basslines, though in the more cinematic cuts like "Halo" that final point may not be true - still, in the aforementioned opener, but also later in the jagged "Amber's Love Was Like A Marble", or even the distorted "Anywhere" earlier on (though it would not be amiss to call this one, to some extent, mechanical), it clearly has its place in the mix. The surrounding tracks, largely devoid of the pop elements, still stay loyal to the neurofunk ones, with tracks like "No More Vaccine" opting for that same mechanical atmosphere present in "Anywhere", whilst a harsher sound is present in "Monopolists and Robberies", and "To Be A Space Monkey" parades a frenzied rhythmic edge. Whatever stylistic qualities the record strives for are maintained resolutely.

Meanwhile, "Skrotum Left It's Dwelling" is likely the most prominent indicator of diversity that Sprouted And Formed has to offer. This is a notable cut because it remains entirely true to the darker, deeper approach the record seems to take - perhaps even more than much of the drum n bass does - yet the thumping four-on-the-floor beat and the wavering sustained bassline seem like incongruous deviations that shouldn't fit in but inexplicably do. Of course, Rawtekk have an ear for more reserved, resonant atmosphers, too. The short interlude "Keyswitch" and the much longer, glassier "Ventricle" prove that, but with limited presence, as Sprouted And Formed does not choose to dwell much upon its quieter sections, preferring instead to push forward with momentum. Even at its final moments - even in the bonus drum n bass remake of "Merry Anna" - Sprouted And Formed remains in a constant state of motion.

It seems, for the most part, comfortable in motion. Even despite taking ganders into slower tempos with many of the neuropop cuts, Rawtekk always seem to be moving forward, helping the album through its hour-long runtime. Their ear for neurofunk remains engraved into intricately layered sound design and creative songwriting, both in the songs' larger constructs and their more atomic ideas. I suspect that this is where Sprouted And Formed draws its power as a record from, a power that is able to sustain it through a pretty sizeable runtime despite lacking a clear throughline. The variety that Rawtekk exhibit is appreciated, but it would do very little without their consistency - the ability to weave thick basslines and intricate movements into any gritty solid form, whilst still applying the same properties to those solids, is impressed upon Sprouted And Formed with impressive attention to detail. The production, from a technical standpoint, is equally compelling. Though, at times, the mix can be a little harsh, and it can be somewhat lacking in others (perhaps a relic of the older schools of drum n bass, with the techniques of acts like Noisia still but an imprint upon the scene rather than an engraving, though that Noisia-esque mixing does show its cards often here) there is no doubt that Rawtekk have taken the highly technical subgenre of neurofunk and produced it to a strong enough degree that their songwriting is allowed to thrive in full. In truth, the diversity in songwriting is the most refreshing, and the most innovative, aspect of Sprouted And Formed, a penchant for songwriting that was (and still is) unique to Rawtekk - but the respectable production standards are what allows those moments of songwriting glory to thrive, even if, at times, some tracks can be written a little less vigorously.

When those tracks written with less vigour do come around, they are the lower points of the record. It would be wrong to say that Sprouted And Formed is a record without weak points, but it is nevertheless a complete record, and a strong debut for the Rawtekk duo amidst a growing drum n bass scene that was beginning to retreat into its sound design underground. Not many acts have bothered to fuse the gravelly sounds of neurofunk with cinematic pop vocals - Rawtekk, by doing it, prove their uniqueness, but they earn the strength of their record by technical expertise, lifting Sprouted And Formed above a merely gimmicky style.