SPITFIRE AUDIO Alex Epton — Entropy

Contemporary synthetic soundscapes

Made in collaboration with XL Recordings’ in-house producer-turned-composer Alex Epton (FKA Twigs, Björk, Arca), these post-industrial soundscapes offer a deep dive into the raw, chaotic nature of feedback. Discover an inspiring spectrum of disorienting sounds that create both dramatic impact and eerie beauty — sweeping synths, pulsing bass drones, multilayered sound design textures and distorted percussive elements which evolve, unravel or detune as you play, instantly sparking new ideas.

The New York-based engineer, producer & remixer is a highly skilled beat-maker and sound sculptor, whose hybrid sound is exemplified in his acclaimed soundtrack, created with Lucinda Chua, for documentary film 3OHA. Inspired by the experimental techniques of musique concrète, Entropy was made from a unique combination of modular synthesis, granular synthesis, found sounds fed through self-built gear and pedals, and IR reverbs.

Innovation in chaos

In Entropy, Epton captures the intrinsically chaotic nature of modular synthesis and feedback, without taming it, allowing disparate elements to co-exist — from the apocalyptic to the playful. These unpredictable sounds largely sit outside the parameters of conventional harmony and rhythm – instantly sparking creativity and adding extra dimensions to any genre or setting.

Epton’s approach to sound design is heavily influenced by the pioneers of electronic music and their processes, including Suzanne Ciani, Morton Subotnick and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Embracing the opportunity for sonic experimentation, he created these sounds from a unique collection of synths and 'homebrew' gear at his custom-built XL Recordings studio in New York. This includes a Verbos modular system with varying levels of feedback, organic percussion and found sounds processed through his custom-built distortion unit, self-built pedals and outboard gear, a variety of granular mangling tools, and his own impulse-response reverbs — featuring a unique chamber reverb captured in a giant abandoned oil tank, found in the basement of his studio building.

Alex Epton

Alex Epton's multi-faceted music career began with an internship at cult dance music label DFA and took flight after he produced the influential debut album of Baltimore rapper Spank Rock, under the name XXXChange. Since joining XL in 2014, Epton has worked with a diverse range of artists including FKA twigs, Jamie xx, Arca, Willis Earl Beal, Vampire Weekend and Skepta, as well as creating specially commissioned remixes for The Kills, Kele Okereke, Björk, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Thom Yorke and TV on the Radio.

In addition to his work as a record producer, Epton has scored several commercials, short films and feature films. A classically-trained jazz musician, drummer and beatmaker, his recent score for Clayton Vomero’s documentary feature, 3OHA, fuses contemporary classical elements, abstract electronic themes and 3D sound design to create a raw, foreboding yet elegiac soundtrack. Shot on location in Russia and Ukraine, the majority of the music was written in pre-production and played throughout filming, forming the backdrop to a moving exploration of Russian youth culture in the extended aftermath of the Soviet Union's dissolution.