ΕΞΩΣΤ by steliosilchuk / x.ypno

[N] Moneda is proud to present its third release ΕΞΩΣΤ by steliosilchuk and x.ypno.

[R] When we first heard a track by them over two years ago, we knew they were onto something very special, difficult to define and yet crystal clear in its emotive intentions. [1] Fast forward to this spring, we are thrilled to finally share this stunning bloom. Emotive as it is emotional, in its thirty-one odd minutes ΕΞΩΣΤ plays like a montage, framed by a car’s windshield, as it cruises through the Cypriot scenery: from the rocky mountainsides in Paphos’ forest, through the tunnel, stretching all the way to the roundabout in old town Nicosia. Leaving behind its way ten trailblazing tracks that resonate with London’s grimy sounds, LA’s Low End Theory, and the harmonics of autotune found in trap. All with an admirable level of maturity and balance that result into something authentically fresh.

[2] The story of these two does run like any beat producer’s leitmotiv: dm’ed over soundcloud, exchanged beats and remixed each other’s tracks, two of which make it into this release, most of it done online while living in different cities. But that’s perhaps where similarities end. In ΕΞΩΣΤ we see a type of collaboration that rarely happens in the world of music, in fact, we testify a level of blind trust rarely achieved among most creatives. [3] While both are producers in their own right, in ΕΞΩΣΤ all tracks are produced, reworked and performed meticulously by steliosilchuk, while x.ypno focuses on writing and singing, layer upon layer upon layer. The results speak for themselves: by elevating and supporting one another, ΕΞΩΣΤ is a unique amalgam of sound and lyricism of the highest caliber.

[4] On the production side, there is a solid grasp of what makes a beat work, with an affinity for minor melodies and an intelligent but sparse use of samples as non-diegetic sounds. All these set the ideal stage for x.ypno. His lyrics and autotuned voice, at times layered as choirs, cut through the mixes­ and focus on themes of uprooting, partition, longing and the micropolitical realities of the island with poetic clarity and restrain, and without stumbling into “conscious” preaching or rhyming-for-rhyme’s sake. In this sense, the so-called “flow” in ΕΞΩΣΤ lies elsewhere, deeper and in circulation. Like a car’s rim on the highway’s asphalt as it hits fifth gear, passing by cyclamens rooted in rocks and they, in turn, cannot but breath in its fumes and turn them into oxygen. All this, vice versa.

[5] Hence the attention to the artwork on this release and the design of the CD, all again, undertaken by steliosilchuk. Abstracting the notion of breathing into that of circulation between the mechanistic and the organic, ΕΞΩΣΤ suggests a third invisible track on its driveway. This is why we deter ourselves from disseminating the album into tracks and instead invite you to breathe along x.ypno’s words and to experience the album in its totality in your cars, as you scan through your own environments, with introspection in the front seat and emotions as the main driving force.

IPO: Cyprus, 2018.

Label and event series, based in Cyprus and Arizona.

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