New York label Incienso is calling this the debut album by SF producer Raven, but we know better. Since our first review in 2022 of Raven’s self-released works on their own imprint Vaguetracks, we’ve been captivated by the artist’s melding of seemingly disparate genres—classical solo piano, hissing lofi vaporwave, polished pumping techno—into blissful, hypnotic works.
Raven’s new ambient techno album Gnosis is, however, the first to land on vinyl thanks to Incienso. And what an arrival. The musical melding continues: Reminiscent of classical composers’ tradition of playing with motifs and variations, Raven begins the album with hazy solo piano on “Gnosis Theme” and reintroduces the chord progression throughout the rest of the work. Where it is driven by a slinky, gritty programmed bassline on “Endless Edition” (sans percussion), it becomes the basis for a thumping low key dance party on “Unlimited Edition.” Listening to the album in total, one might hear Wolfgang Voigt, Richard D. James, or Suzanne Ciani, but most of all one will hear Raven because this is is what it’s like to hear the artist live. Familiar but unexpected, patient yet evolving, minimal yet captivating.
