- Kinship is Artefakt's first longplayer, though their tracks have suited the format for years. Productions from Robin Koek and Nick Lapien rarely dip below six minutes (they have exceeded ten in the past), which gives their music a pensive edge. They call it "voodoo," but it's more utilitarian than that. They use the extra space to toy gently with atmosphere, texture and tone, resulting in a style of techno that engages equally at home and in the club.
"Entering The City" is Kinship's sprawling centrepiece. At over 12 minutes long, it might be considered a touch self-indulgent, but it shows what Artefakt are all about: incremental shifts, rich pads and melodies, iridescent sound, rhythmic stability and a solid club grounding. Its unflinching pulse keeps you locked in as the rest of it morphs with effortless grace. In isolation, it's wonderful. But slotted into the middle of an album with little variety, it loses the power it might have had on a 12-inch.
Between its mood-setting bookends, Kinship gets a little samey. The album is locked into a shimmering, propulsive techno formula that doesn’t change much from track to track. "Return To Reason" is the exception, which marks a shift towards the austere and acidic style the pair have courted on tracks such as "The Final Theory" or "Transit." The aching ambient of "Tapeloop 1" and its swooning counterpart, "Kinship," lovely though they are, don't seem to connect to the rest of the album in a clear way. In EP-sized bursts, Artefakt's protracted techno has charmed. For once, though, the pair could have done more with less.
Tracklist01. Kinship
02. Tapestry
03. Entering The City
04. Somatic Dreams
05. Fernweh
06. Return To Reason
07. Tapeloop 1