[Further Records]

The thing about calling your album K is that it’s just so perplexing and vague. My first thought as a Physics student was that K stood for some physical constant (take your pick) or for a Kaon, but those are hardly the only options. K is also the symbol for potassium, the surname of the protagonist from Franz Kafka’s The Trial, and slang for ketamine, but which was right? After listening to K for the first time I found myself no closer to the answer, but that’s probably for the best. After all, Donato Dozzy’s music is not about deciphering clues. What his releases lack in information they more than make up for in emotion and atmosphere.

Indeed, it’s the atmosphere that I find most exciting in Dozzy’s productions. His work conjures images of misty mountains and lush, green fields; it almost seems like it would be missing the point to hear these tunes in a club. K opens with almost glacial percussion and drifting, melodious ambiance while the next track is dark and tripping techno, but they both cling to a similarly introspective mood. Speaking of K in terms of individual tracks feels like the wrong way to attack this release, seeing as none of the tracks are titled and they’re often blended together anyway. It’s truly a singular work, looking at the mood and ambiance that Dozzy has become known for from many different angles. There are moments of extreme levity and moments of weighty depth, but it takes awhile to transition between them, which is where I think ultimately K’s strength lies: Donato is content to create an aural space and just live in it for awhile.

The only words emblazoned on the beautifully hand silk-screened package are lifted from the epic Latin poem The Aeneid, where they’re spoken by Aeneas as he looks at a frieze depicting scenes from the war from which he has returned. He is overcome with emotion, and translated by Robert Fagles the phrase reads, “The world is a world of tears, and the burdens of morality touch the heart.” It’s heavy stuff, and while I think K probably points in that direction it does so in a much more tempered manner than the phrase might suggest. This is clearly a personal album, and it’s that care that makes it not only Donato’s best work to date, but also one of the most engaging and memorable techno LPs this year. It paints an elaborate picture, but what one takes away from it is about as varied as the interpretations of the title.