the first ep from mouse on mars since their anniversary recording 21 again (2014) is clearly connected to their recent club gigs. in fact, synaptics sees the berlin duo embrace their love of juke, footwork and chopped up house music like never before. on its three tracks, andi toma and jan st. werner reinforce the collaborative idea of 21 again: eight different artists have been involved in the making of these tracks, which deliberately depart from a characteristic mouse on mars sound, creating a more organized vibe while still maintaining links to their previous work. there are two directions of research in andi and jan s sonic laboratory: one is focused on experimental club music, the other is in search of music without ties to specific genres. though heavily leaning towards the club, synaptics is caught in between. from the duo s perspective, it even touches pop territory. all three tracks came into existence during the past four years. opener jack is out- with its pounding lazer stabs is an obvious link to their current club sets as well as a clue on future productions. after months of redesigning and rearranging, it found its final form through an edit by bon iver producer ryan olson aka arson only at his wisconsin studio, where andi and jan also recored for their next album. bluescreen- was born out of a berlin session with jessy lanza and junior boys and was completed some year later with support from modeselektor. and the tropical funk of sensitive person-, based on a studio jam with sepalcure, also needed some aging and refinement after a couple of months.
