Radian, a trio from Vienna, creates music that plays with your sense of aural identification and aural distance. It goes in hard for little sounds we make when we’re not quite yet “making music”: the tiniest flop and swish of wire brushes on a drum-head, the quick pop of a plug entering a socket or a circuit being switched, the sound of a finger pressing a computer key.

Since the late 90s Radian have been pushing the boundaries between abstract sounds and beat oriented rhythms, as documented by extensive worldwide touring & festivals appearances, as well as on 7 full-length albums. Their new record „Distorted Rooms“, released on Thrill Jockey in April 2023, further expands on their unique vision of re-thinking conventional use of forms, patterns and sounds.

While their last longplayer „On Dark Silent Off” emphasized extreme changes in dynamic range and abrupt cuts, and dealt with the relation between noise bursts and prominently placed moments of silence, “Distorted Rooms” focuses more on slow developments and repetitive structures. The original instrumentation is even more in disguise, and the moments of abstraction happen more on sub- and/or meta-levels, often leaving it to the listener to choose where to put the focus and which lines of development (or non-development) to follow (or rest in). Like handing over the choice of where to put the magnifying glass/attention within a kaleidoscope-like array of fine woven parallel sounds, structures, forms and motives.

The Austrian trio Radian are rightly considered innovators in the field of abstract electroacoustic music – mainly because of their sophisticated balancing between experimental methods and attractive rhythmic passages, a kind of hazy echoes of the so-called intelligent dance music or IDM. The band consists of drummer Martin Brandlmayr, who also plays vibraphone and programs the sampler and sequencer, bassist Manu Mayr, and the last member of the trio is guitarist Martin Siewert.

Radian’s music retains an abstract expression, but at the same time they find their way back to the sometimes almost primitive rhythm and are one of the few who have sovereignly defended its existence in this kind of music. Micro samples are packed on top of mathematically precise percussive structures, minimalist passages are interspersed with sophisticated noise patterns, and there are also fleeting references to ambient, jazz and, of course, experimental electronics. Their music is clever and catchy and can be described without exaggeration as pop of the future.