Moderat – “III” – [Monkey Town]

Kai Sync   4/13/2016   A Library, CD

Moderat on their third album are continuing on their track of developing European electronic music into a more soulful and emotional experience. The singing is even more prevalent on this album. The album has lots of modulating melodies combined with unexpected rhythms and synthesizer layers. Moderat is Modeselector (Gernot Bronsert & Sebastian Szary) that provides the rhythmic elements and Apparat (Sascha Ring) that contributes the more ethereal sections and the singing. I might say that the complex and bombastic tracks are more intriguing and the sparse songs more rich by hitting the sonic nerves — both angles work on this album. The singing fits really well within the vision of where the music is directed in forms of song-based electronic compositions. This is very modern music with unexpected arrangements borrowed from other genres and concurrent artists to form something unique. It definitely absorbs the willing listener, as well as provides Moderat with a path for future explorations into soulful electronica.