Sum of R

Lights on Water is the second Sum of R album on Utech Records after their self titled debut, and the first full-length as the duo of Reto Mäder (bass guitar, electronics, drums, piano, samples) and Julia Valentina Wolf (guitar) after the Ride Out The Waves EP.

The album finds the Swiss duo discovering their roots within a prehistoric ceremonial context. Those roots go back to times where the sounds of nature were reigned in, ritualized and utilized as food for the soul. They are the cries of gods, the crashing of thunder and the breaking of the waves that inspire the heartfelt intensity. The evolving dialogue between Reto Mäder and Julia Valentina Wolf shapes the nature and cosmos they and their audience exist within. The clash of Mäder’s multi-layered bass melodies, introspective sonic textures and anthemic drums with Wolf’s piercing and engulfing guitars sound like a tide between the most excessive forms of silence and noise.

Lights on Water represents growth in every sense of the word: growth in more concrete strong structures, and growth based on a period of live performances. It doesn’t matter how dark their vision gets, Mäder’s penchant for beauty always shines. What at first sounds like destruction results in a new and powerful reconstructing. Lights on Water stands where the lines between natural sound and human-created sound are blurred and leave only the intensity of raw emotion.