“Lockpicks are tools used to open locks in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. These are crucial in the progression and execution of the Lockpicking skill set and a staple in the arsenal of any thief. One of the key roles in the game itself, some quests may require the use of lockpicks; however, alternatives are often available. When a person is sent to jail, it is usually possible to smuggle in one lockpick to facilitate escape.” - The Elder Scrolls Wiki

By the time I was listening to “Lockpick,” the third track on the debut EP from Athens-based musician Apu Nanu, I was already submerged into a gamer-like haze of space manipulation, frenetic pulses of sound, and shimmering frontiers of nothingness. There was a sort of transmutation of experiences going on, and then it clicked, the lock clicked, and I was so happy I didn’t even need to enter into what was next. I waited on the threshold of Apu Nanu’s The Untold Saga and let the rest of the tracks wash over me.

To describe this music, I could throw around more words, invent types of -futurisms and -romanticisms, play with prefixes and suffixes to attempt to locate what this EP’s journey sounds like—geographically, psychographically, and sonographically. There’s a temptation to revel in these sounds as cinematic, but it’s so much more than that. It’s the soundtrack to the gamespace. It’s the simplest of melodies, exploding into layered complexity and falling back down into a murmur. Then comes the pumping 808s, which drench the space like the sound of rain that will never be wet—the rain that will never kiss your skin.

Maybe the urge to turn the album into a “-graph” comes from a certain inkling that this music is a map. If you listen carefully, maybe you can read that map. And run free into the gamespace.

Apu Nanu - ‘The Untold Saga

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Apu Nanu - ‘The Untold Saga