Terekke is one of a core group of artists that helped establish the L.I.E.S label in its formative years. When Ron Morelli launched the Long Island Electrical Systems label back in 2017, it was his intention to create a conduit for the “great” unreleased material his friends were producing. Chief amongst these friends was an obscure figure called Matt Gardner that was making music as Terekke.
Terekke’s deep, but buoyant House productions bottled the zeitgeist of its time and pushed it out to sea where it could float across the entire expanse of the electronic music ocean. His debut EP, “Damn” engendered a reserved and determined output, which by his second release, “YYYYYYYYYY” had become a firm favourite amongst critics and heads alike. Three EPs in on L.I.E.S and a self released digital EP with a caricature for a title and Terekke it seemed was finally ready to embark on a debut album and “Plant Age” thus came by way of none-other than L.I.E.S.
“Plant Age” is an ambient album that breaks the pattern of Terekke’s past productions and transposes the atmospheres that used to cloud around percussive tracks to the foreground. Wispy electronic textures, perpetually on the verge of deconstruction, perform fleeting dub manoeuvres across eight short tracks. Each note or sonic anomaly seems to hold on for eternity, before moving on to the next, wholly unique phase. There’s no sense of repetition on “Plant Age” and the album takes on an eerie organic quality through machines that appear to operate on a conscious level. “Mix 91” and “JQM” are particular highlights, with dub arrangements and jazz ad-libs transporting the listener through some fantastical cloud; Terekke’s lo-fi sonic signature elevating the listener above and beyond the music.
You simply float through the album’s eight tracks and when it does begin to bob to and fro between tracks, the movements are subtle and spontaneous, only breaking the serenity of the moment, before returning to the perpetual state of stillness that bookmarks the album.