Soma are proud to present the debut album from one of the most exiting Techno artists to spring out of the French scene in recent years, Charles Fenckler. A chance happening across his Soundcloud heralded some fine results for the Soma camp as back in 2014, the 20 year old Fenckler, exploded onto the label with the finely produced ‘Anklam’. Sporting such a mature sound for someone so young, his profile has been creeping up over the past 2 years, quickly gaining fans throughout the Techno community such as Jeff Mills, Marcel Dettmann, Josh Wink & Alan Fitzpatrick. His latest release in early 2016, Frozen Room saw him return to form after a short hiatus with the title track taking the scene by storm. With his debut album, Diving From The Void, Fenckler looks to continue his meteoric rise through electronic music.
Fenckler takes a heady dive straight into things as opener Voices In Your Head, with it’s droning yet uplifting quality, seeps eerily through before Immersion starts to up the pace of the album, it’s pounding kicks and percussive workouts sitting atop a glistening, acidic melody. Charles continues on an old school tip as the wild Stellar Acid comes hard and fast, complete with powerful breakdown moment. The rave inspired Frozen Room, already a massive hit from the youngster, clatters in once again as Charles then give a nod to UK-breakbeat with the contemplative Estrange. Things get back to techno business quickly as Flirting with Disaster & Subject X103 come thundering through but still, Charles brings an emotive element with both tracks laden with polished, ethereal pads. Originally released in 2015, District Two makes an appearance with its straight up, driven 909 percussive workout. The Unknown brings an air of minimalism with its sparse synths and groove laden drums whilst Anxie ty’s sweeping drones and foreboding atmospheres follow before the galloping Raven closes out the album at a ferocious pace.
Charles has certainly explored all facets of Techno throughout this album and for someone still with much ahead of him, the future is certainly looking bright for this talented young Frenchman.
The moment I’ve been waiting for quite some time finally arrived. Soma just announced the second album by Simon Stokes aka Petrichor. And the best part: I was so lucky to get to listen to it already.