Notaker has always been inspired by film, the way the music transforms the mood of the story and how it can be a character in itself. We saw this come through his discography with tracks like “Infinite” and “Born in the Flames.” The Missouri-based artist behind the project, David Nothaker, has been growing exponentially in both his production quality and genre reach. Earlier this year he brought out his funky side with his collab with Grey MTTR, “Too Smooth,” and showed off his love affair of cinematic inspirations with his Monstercat released EP, Genesis. He’s been slaying streaming numbers and rising to the top of Monstercat label’s favorites. Now the very talented producer is premiering his highly intellectual and epic new EP Erebus I on Mau5trap records. The rising Notaker has turned this love affair into a catalyst for his new project, a five part musical experience that paints the picture of a corrupt A.I. forcing the space crew to survive without any help. Notaker had this to say about the concept:
“The concept behind this EP was to expand on the idea of my Vessel series by creating a story using the tracklist order, mood, and artwork for each song to tell an ambiguous sci-fi / space story about the Vessel. Essentially the Vessel’s A.I. experiences a Fatal System Error after the Vessel travels through a wormhole, the corrupted A.I. then becomes hostile towards the crew forcing many of them to jettison the Vessel and go into hypersleep. The remaining crew then cut the power supply to the A.I. and have to travel back through the wormhole without any guidance. Also in the promo mix I spliced in a few audio clips of dialogue from movies that I drew inspiration from for the story and artwork: Interstellar, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Alien.”
Notaker takes you into his place of imagination with his composition in Erebus I. You can feel the sense of the characters and see the story in your mind as he takes you through the journey in each track. “Fatal System Error” starts off the epic, with an alarm drifting in and out before a falling synth melody brings us up to a heavy bass drop. You can practically hear the A.I. coming alive with jarring splices of breathing and noises of malfunction. The interplay between all of it makes it feel like it’s seething between the cracks of the notes. “Corrupted” is the beautifully dark blend between Notaker’s style of orchestral harmonies and Black Gummy’s signature ground shattering bass. In the third track “Hypersleep”, we almost feel like we’re walking through someone’s dreaming conscious. Notaker intertwines rhythms and mystical melodies that somehow pair together like our most confusing nightmares before closing it out with the quote “I always get that feeling, like none of this is real. Like it’s all just a dream”.
We’re dropped back into waking reality in “Machina”, with the ominous synths and rapidly building tempo alluding to the crew members fighting their way back to the power supply before it’s too late. Each element of the song keeps us on the edges of our seats, waiting to see how it will pan out and imagining how the story will climax in our minds. Lastly, “Believe” leaves us with a sense of inspiration, empowerment, and the ultimate feeling of surviving a crazy experience. The airy vocals echo “believe” while the rhythms and high stakes synth scales take off to the last climax before drifting into silence, leaving us watching the space crew make it through the wormhole with zero navigation or system analytics. We were left catching our breath and reeling with the odyssey we were just taken on. We just felt, heard, and imagined an entire film within the span of a five-track EP.
Notaker definitely takes you for a ride on Erebus I, a totally different experience of listening to music that we haven’t seen in quite a while. We encourage you to drift away into the sci-fi epic adventure he has crafted: lights off, headphones on, and eyes closed. You can check out Erebus I on Soundcloud and Spotify now.
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