Our memories are deeply tied to the sounds around us. A passing train, the hypnotic sound of rainfall, or the crackle of radio static can pull us back to a moment we thought we forgot. Indonesian electronic producer Wandour captures this feeling on his new album, Echoterrium, built from cassette loops, old analogue gear, and field recordings collected while traveling the world in what he calls an “aquarium of echoes.”
It starts with ‘Movement in Time,’ a track that sets the rules for the rest of the record. It balances warm synth pads and a rolling breakbeat groove with a piano pattern that sits right on the edge of organic and electronic. On one hand, the keys sound completely acoustic, but they are manipulated into these creative arpeggios. It gives you a clear signal that for the next 40 minutes, we aren’t staying strictly in the digital realm or the fully organic one. Instead, we are staying comfortably right in the middle.
‘Seaside Moments’ is for us the standout track of the album, our personal favourite. It utilizes a beautiful riff with a simple piano tone that feels like it is being played on a cheap toy piano, giving it a nostalgic, lo-fi aesthetic. Spoken word style vocals drift in and out, which becomes a reoccurring theme in the record. The pad chords add a sweet sense of euphoria, while a driving synth bass cuts through. You can tell this line was composed by someone who thinks in terms of keys rather than strings.
‘Cloud Gazer’ shifts things into a more playful vibe. Wandour reflects the idea of endless clouds by stacking different pad layers. A nicely downsized, bit-crushed brass section engages in a cool musical dialogue with an uplifting groove and a busy hi-hat section. That energy stays alive on ‘Sunshine Waves,’ the album’s upcoming single. It pairs bright piano chords with a lively beat that makes you wanna start moving. Rather than introducing a totally new melody, the synth layers work to highlight the underlying chord progression. There is an intentional lack of clarity, a sort of warm blur that makes the track and the album in general feel really comforting.
‘Forest Spirits’ is starting with a long, atmospheric pad intro before building piece by piece. First comes a breakbeat groove paired with a melodic percussive theme, followed by a steady 4-on-the-floor kick. A gritty mid-bass layer enters next, topped off by classic disco hi-hats. Wandour pairs these deep electronic elements with a full string ensemble and once again, the artistic choice to keep the production lo-fi works nicely.
While listening to ‘Echoes of Rainfall,’ you really need to pay attention to the headphone space. The panning spectrum is rich and wide as melodic layers move left, right, and everywhere in between. Melodic wise some elements stay constant, hitting the exact same note while other layers drift past them, all working on top of a rich house groove.
‘Farewell Frequency’ keeps the BPMs fast. It tackles themes of separation and remembered goodbyes, letting warm synth pads take center stage while a steady 8th-note bassline provides a solid foundation for the melodies to take us wherever they want. ‘Nocturnal Wind’ pulls a trick seen a few times on the album, introducing a non-4/4 beat and gradually enriching it with 4/4 elements later on. Driven by a dub-inflected bass, cello, and constantly evolving pads, it takes the album into darker, highly atmospheric territory.
The main idea on ‘Midnight Flame’ is a heavily processed, highly rhythmic main theme. It gets filled out with a minimal piano layer and a white-noise spectrum beat that, by this point in the record, feels like one of Wandour’s signature sounds. Finally, ‘Static Connection’ leaves the listener with no sudden surprises as all the elements return in new variations, switching between minimalism and evolution to make the entire album feel incredibly cohesive.
The production technique across Echoterrium is there. What Wandour wanted to achieve using these specific vintage field recorders and weathered tape decks is entirely obvious. But what you actually get out of it as a listener is deeply personal. Wandour is less interested in telling you what to remember, and more interested in creating the perfect conditions for your own memories to surface.
Click below, listen for yourself, and see where these sounds take you.
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