Pthalo

Although the track has a single colour as its name, don't let that deceive you, because when it comes to the sonic nature of the "Pthalo", it's in fact an exuberance of colours, textures and moods, which when combined deliver the ultimate Verdance experience.

The drums and percussion on "Pthalo" add an exotic groove and a dance vibe to the whole sound, giving the arrangement a dynamic feel throughout the whole song.

What really sticks out is the fresh use of melodies due to the implementation of more interesting almost middle-eastern-sounding instruments, rather than the more traditional ones like piano, guitar, synths, etc. This applies to the whole Rothko EP, by the way.

Rothko's paintings are reliant on layers to create depth, and he often painted large scale pieces: for me, that was the link! That is what I wanted Verdance to be like - I wanted more careful arrangements, with more depth and thought, and I wanted the tracks to feel 'big'.

If you are intrigued by the nature of Verdance as an artist as much as we are, and want to learn more about his artistic vision, you can find his interview for Stereofox here.

This is also the first time we as a label are building an artist from the ground up, so if you're interested in how that has worked out, we have an interesting read you might want to check out. While you do, of course, be sure to have the Rothko EP playing in the background to be part of the whole journey.