Audiopile Review: Long-awaited vinyl edition of Salamanda’s 2nd album, 2021’s magnificent and sorely overlooked Sphere. Initially released only on cassette and CD, the album disappeared between the cracks of their splashy debut for Good Morning Tapes and the widely praised pairing of Ashblakum and In Parallel. Japanese imprint Plancha satiate us while we eagerly await a new album from the Korean duo of Sala (Uman Thurman) and Manda (Yetsuby), Sphere revealing itself, perhaps for the first time for many, as no mere footnote in the group’s short but potent catalog. Perhaps the most playfully Reich-ian bout of their four albums, the duo’s hypnotic percussion and mesmerizing sequences take the lead, the minimalist polyrhythms becoming the focal point amidst a frothy bath of bubbling electronics, neon-lit synths and their typically hyper-focused attention to pointillist detailing. Ultimately, it’s the most stripped down of the fourth world effervescence and orb-y hyper pop that would eventually be the duo’s calling card on subsequent releases, not to mention Yetsuby supercharging it for her recent solo run. A key document from one of modern electronic music’s finest melody makers. Limited edition Japanese import!

Salamanda is the collaborative alias of South Korean producer/DJ duo, and close friends, Uman Therma (Sala) and Yetsuby (Manda). Together they create avant-garde electronic music inspired by minimalist concepts, harmonious rhythms and the work of American composer Steve Reich.

Across the eight tracks of Sphere, their debut for Small Méasures, the pair conjure spherical worlds inspired by bubbles, refracting light and planet earth. Soundscapes laden with percussive elements ebb and flow as arpeggiated stanzas cede to misty synths and shimmering plates, conjuring images of solitary temples sat in vast open plateaus.

“For Sphere, we came up with an abstract concept and image to explore more diversity and encourage imagination. Each track is related to different kinds of sphere we found or imagined. From the big round planet embracing every creature to dancing little bubbles underwater, fragments of ideas floating around, exploding tomatoes, and movement of lights flashing and tickling the eyes…

Or the tracks can be about completely different types of spheres in other people’s perspective. We hope Sphere can unleash the imagination and take you on a delightful journey of music.’’