One half of Bristol’s industrial punk duo Celebration Anxiety, Maik Keefe, also known as aztechsounds, has released his solo ambient record debug7.
Heavily inspired by 1997 video game Final Fantasy VII, debug7 is a journey to aztechsounds’ roots and mixes his childhood memories with imagery from the game.
Aztechsounds said: “It’s based on stuff I liked when I was younger. There’s been a lot of focus in my personal life and in therapy, of having a dialogue between me and the bit of me that is still a child. It has felt cathartic to go: ‘What would I have liked to listen to when I was a kid?’ Hey, kid Maik, here’s what I made for you.”
The album’s song titles are all inspired by symbols found in the aforementioned video game and musically, aztechsounds incorporates references to the game’s soundtrack while also building on his own imagery. ‘bird’ evokes images of a bird picking corn off the ground, while ‘capital’ feels more cold and uncomfortable.
debug7 is an album you could easily stick on in the background while working or trying to get to sleep – but you might miss out on the finer details of the album, which let you in on aztechsounds inner world, a safe haven for anyone who wants to do something nice for their younger selves.
Words: Clara Bullock
‘debug7’ is out now. Stream below or purchase the album via Bandcamp.