Jonteknik will release Tectonics through The People’s Electric on 13 September 2019.

Listen to lead track ‘Mount Etna’ here.

Tectonics is the ninth album by UK electronic musician Jon Russell. After releases concerning themselves with architecture and the vibrant topographies of global cities, with Tectonics we find Russell turning his attention to geographical matters. “I’m fascinated by the connection between humans and nature,” he explains. “The subject of these songs is the foundation of the planet which we happen to inhabit. It constantly moves, just as society constantly moves.”

The ten tracks on Tectonics use intricate, mesmerising electronics and Russell’s questioning vocals to simulate the fundamental, restless, uncontrollable movements of the earth. From violent plate movements (‘Seismic Waves’ and ‘Continental Drift’) to the towering ruptures in the earth’s surface wrought in slow motion over millennia (lead track ‘Mount Etna’ and the thrilling ‘Mount Fuji’), to the waltz-like pop eulogy to California’s Yellowstone National Park, these pieces are among Russell’s most evocative soundscapes. Melding meditative rhythms and layers of finely-crafted synths, these tracks use forty years of electronic music technology as a sonic metaphor for billions of years of geographical drama.

Jon Russell has been making music for nearly thirty years, from his humble bedroom beginnings with a Commodore Amiga, via his studio work with OMD’s Paul Humphreys and Propaganda’s Claudia Brücken, and onward through his recent investigations of Eurorack modules and analogue equipment. His last album, Alternative Arrangements (2018), saw Russell paying homage to his favourite songs with a collection of covers. Far from drawing a line under his career, the sleek, considered electronic arrangements of Tectonics show an imagination in overdrive.

“I was once advised to always make the music that I would want to listen to myself,” he reflects. “As long as I am happy with what I’ve created, and so long as I carry on enjoying the creative process, then there will always be new music from me.”

Tectonics will be available on LP, CD and through digital / streaming services. The album will also be released as a highly limited cassette edition. Physical formats of the album will be available from The People’s Electric. The album will be released worldwide on 13 September 2019.

Track listing:

1. Tectonics
2. Mount Fuji
3. A Fatal Attraction
4. We Are Volcanic
5. Yellowstone
6. Seismic Waves
7. Silfra
8. Mount Etna
9. Continental Drift
10. For The Silent

All production / programming / mixing / vocals by Jonteknik.

About Jonteknik

Jon Russell is a programmer / writer / producer / remixer who has been making electronic music since 1988. His credits include co-producing and writing with Paul Humphreys (Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark) and Claudia Brücken (Propaganda), remixing artists such as Le Cliché, Nature Of Wires, Metroland, iEuropean (feat. Wolfgang Flür) and OMD.

About The People’s Electric

The People’s Electric is an electronic music community where everyone is welcome. Our artists like to release music on physical formats, but our little community will just as readily embrace those who love to download too. We exist to bring great electronic music to your discerning ears, whatever your listening preferences. The People’s Electric was founded in 2016 by Jon ‘Jonteknik’ Russell in Shoreham-by-Sea, England.

Press release (c) 2019 Mat Smith for The People’s Electric