ADUM⁷ - The Prototype / Ephemeral

ADUM⁷ finger-drumming on the Akai MPK 49.

Last fall, ADUM⁷ released two full-length instrumental albums just one week apart from each other. To hear him tell it, this wasn't so much a rollout strategy as an artistic purge. "Sometimes as artists, we create so much material that the world never gets ​to see or experience it​," ADUM⁷ said. "We end up hoarding our divinely inspired ideas and vibrations for whatever reason ​we create for ourselves. It makes me think about all of the amazingly unique material that has gone unreleased via countless friends of mine that have already ascended back up​ to the stars." As someone who's been spending more and more time cataloging rarely heard music, I too think about that often.

The Prototype and Ephemeral — released October 24 and November 1, respectively — were both made entirely with the Akai MPK 49 and Propellerhead's Reason 10 software, but the range of sounds between and even within the two albums is astounding. Sure, there's an electronic underpinning to both, yet in this application genre seems almost like instrument, a tool for expression rather than a box for confinement.

As for the expressions, they too run the gamut, from loss to triumph, wistfulness to blissfulness and everywhere in between these extremes. "I’ve been going through a ton in life outside of music," ADUM⁷ shares."The experiences continue to remind me of how precious and delicate our human existence is. Literally like wings of the butterfly.... like the butterflies that are taking flight for the first time, we need to slow down and just enjoy the vibration of life itself. The bonus would be if we can actually slow down to love each other. For me right now, nothing else matters to me much these days, besides learning from nature, being fully self-expressed and enjoying the quality of human exchange. Please enjoy, share the music with friends and family."