Austrian electronic project EGGER has been building a very specific kind of world across his first three singles. Wolfgang Egger‘s debut, “Strange Behaviour”, drew on Kraftwerk and early John Foxx to explore technology’s creeping unease. The follow-up, “The People”, pushed the energy up while keeping the minimalist bones intact. “I Breathe”, released at the start of May, turns the focus inward entirely – and in doing so, might be the most fully realised thing he’s put out yet.
The minimal sound is here almost eerie; it’s meditative, sure, but in a Kubrick character going mad kind of meditative, and I mean that as a compliment because to elicit that kind of imagery is no small feat. The distorted oscillating bass keeps rising and falling in this pulsating fashion, like controlled tension in a sick experiment, or like the interior walls of the mind closing in and out. I would say this minimal approach is more psychedelic and stimulating than other songs that claim to be psychedelic when, in reality, they just throw everything but the kitchen sink and hope it sticks.
The line “Life – no goal, just direction” lands differently when the production around it is this stripped back. There’s nowhere to hide in a mix this sparse, which means the philosophical weight either earns its place or collapses. Here it earns it. For a project still only three singles deep, EGGER has established an unusually coherent identity – dark, precise, and genuinely interested in what electronic music can carry lyrically. “I Breathe” is the best proof of that so far. My only complaint about the song is that it’s not long enough.