In very little time Rapt aka Brighton UK's Jacob Ware has managed to stand out with his unique take on lo-fi experimental ambiance. Late 2018 saw the artist emerging with the first releases which earned his act its first acclaim, and lately he's been on a creative run, with None Of This Will Matter coming out in late 2020 and making a rather fine impression, and the live-at-home EP, Lived Alone, following a little later.
Drouth, a new record composed of five untitled tracks, is a brilliant, introspective collection; a merger of ambient, downtempo electronica, cinematic and neo-classical sounds, and it brings Rapt a step closer toward the full realization of its musical existence by going back to where it started.
Shifting gears often between driving rhythms and ethereal atmospherics, the five tracks on Drouth supplement each other, and go through various moods, all of which have a couple of common denominators, such as a firm foundation of inherent wistfulness and layers of underlying calmness. The entire release is marked by Rapt's motivation to create a coherent work which plays out seamlessly on a larger scale, and on that aspect Drouth succeeds. as it is more of a compelling album than five great individual tracks,. Rapt's disconnection from the slowcore and folk direction of its immediately previous material feels absolutely intrinsic, and ultimately it pays off.
"Influenced by the state of things on this earth and in our lives, Drouth is the logical follow up to my first album under this confused moniker," the artist describes. "Composed from scratched, warped, worthless and unwanted classical music LPs."
Drouth is out now through Z-Tapes.
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