'Apparatus,' SubtractiveLAD's fourth album, finds Stephen Hummel elaborating upon previous granular motifs. Those familiar with his progression will notice that Hummel's sound has matured and become grounded in an honest and open place. As such musical growth would imply, Apparatus is the album in which Hummel appears to be most comfortable with his ideas and usage of sound. It is this comfort which allows Apparatus to envelop the listener in a profoundly personal way. Lofty classic ambient refrains, shoegaze splendor and muted broken beat trickery are all stylistic fair game. Comparisons can be made to a wide rage of artists such as Ben Frost, Eno, Namlook, and even label mate Bitcrush. As each SubtractieLAD album seems to top the previous, the anticipation is continually building for what is to come from this bright talent in electronic music. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.