CFCF – Exercises (full EP stream)

Canadian producer and pianist Mike Silver makes wonderfully sumptuous electronic music under the name CFCF through such leading light labels as RVNG and Acephale. ‘Exercises’ is the name of his new EP, though it’s really more of a mini-album, and it’s one of the best things released in 2012.

The artwork depicts a modernist library (Louis Kahn’s Phillips Exeter Academy library, if you’re curious), and the music has a kind of mid-century sense of benign purpose and the slightly sad sense libraries have. It’s a set of eight tracks, each light as a sketch, that subtly detail the young artist’s life up to this point. Building the monumental from the simplest materials, Mike Silver has produced a masterclass in restraint and emotion, a stunning work of harmonic draughtsmanship – let me repeat: this is one of the strongest releases of this young year. It’s released the week after next, and you can stream it below.