Mandruvá’s D.R.A.M.A. Explores the Space Between Organic Rhythm and Electronic Psychedelia on THISBE Recordings
There is a point where electronic music stops sounding like a collection of programmed elements and begins to feel almost biological. Sounds start behaving like organisms: expanding, contracting, repeating and responding to one another. Mandruvá's D.R.A.M.A., the latest release from Brazilian artist Murillo Faleiros, finds much of its character in precisely that space.
Released by THISBE Recordings, the EP brings together two original productions and a trio of remixes from Letvink, Poulper & Stylic and Pyrame. Across the release, rhythm is treated not simply as a means of keeping time but as the central mechanism through which the music develops.
Mandruvá has been refining this approach for almost ten years. His catalogue, including releases and remixes for Belly Dance Services and PBP Records, reflects a fascination with the intersection between organic rhythmic traditions and electronic experimentation. His music can be deep and psychedelic without abandoning its physical connection to the dancefloor.
D.R.A.M.A. pushes that relationship further.
The EP's title references the ancient Greek origins of drama and its association with Dionysus, the god of theatre, festivity and ritual madness. There is an obvious temptation when working with such imagery to make the music overly theatrical. Mandruvá takes the opposite approach.
The drama here happens slowly.
The original tracks establish their worlds through repetition and incremental change. Percussion forms the backbone, with different rhythmic layers creating a dense but breathable framework. Around them, acid elements and atmospheric electronics introduce a sense of instability.
It is this instability that keeps the music alive.
A groove can be deeply hypnotic while still feeling unsettled. Mandruvá understands that distinction, allowing his rhythmic structures to become familiar without becoming entirely predictable. Small changes in texture can suddenly alter the perceived centre of gravity, making the tracks feel as though they are constantly shifting beneath the listener.
The psychedelic dimension is equally understated. Rather than covering the music in obvious effects, Mandruvá uses texture and repetition to create altered perception. Sounds begin to acquire different meanings simply because they have been heard in changing contexts.
That is an approach particularly suited to extended listening and club environments. On a dancefloor, the tracks can operate as patient rhythmic tools; outside the club, their layered construction rewards closer attention.
The connection to THISBE Recordings is therefore more than geographical or stylistic. The label's fascination with music that combines rhythm, experimentation and unexpected references provides a context in which Mandruvá's work makes sense without requiring a conventional genre label.
The remixers take that material in different directions.
Letvink brings a French perspective to the release, while Argentine-Spanish duo Poulper & Stylic and Pyrame further expand the EP's rhythmic vocabulary. The resulting versions demonstrate that Mandruvá's compositions are structurally open enough to survive transformation while retaining their essential character.
There is an interesting irony in the title D.R.A.M.A. The record is concerned with theatre, yet there is very little traditional theatricality in the music. No grand gestures are necessary. The tension comes from the rhythm itself, from the gradual process through which a listener becomes increasingly absorbed.
That may be the most convincing interpretation of the EP's Dionysian reference.
Not spectacle, but surrender.
Not explanation, but immersion.
Mandruvá has created a record that understands the dancefloor as a place where those distinctions can temporarily disappear. On THISBE Recordings, D.R.A.M.A. turns rhythm into its own language—and speaks it fluently.
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