ROMAN CIGI's "Aliens": Weird Voices, One Big Bassline Switch
Put "Aliens" on and the voices hit first: stretched, bent and wobbling until they sound like a transmission from somewhere else. ROMAN CIGI's new tech-house release landed on 23 October through Soundevote, and he doesn't sugarcoat what you're in for: "You'll either love it or think I've lost my mind."
Inside "Aliens"
At 132 BPM, the track is built from samples and warped alien voices. Where they come from stays between Roman and his hard drive. What you get is quirky, a little unsettling and weirdly fun once the groove locks in. And the groove is the point, because it never lets go.
Then, halfway through, everything flips. A new bassline arrives, the mood changes, and the rhythm underneath keeps pulling you along. It's one big switch, not a slow build, so the track plays like two moods in one. It works on a dancefloor because the body keeps moving while the head catches up.
His own pitch is hard to beat: "Weird alien voices, a groove that won't quit, one big bassline switch."
Made by Hand
The setup is deliberately simple: Ableton Live, a sample library built over eight years, good monitors and a few late nights. No AI went anywhere near it, which fits Roman's long-held stance: "AI can be a small tool in the box, not the box itself." He builds tracks like puzzles, digging through the library until something sparks, and sometimes the track names itself halfway through.
Where "Aliens" Sits
It lands in the 128 to 133 BPM zone Roman has been working in lately, though he's said he wants to push closer to 145 eventually. It follows "I'm Alive," the track that took three years to finish and passed a million plays on VEVO. "Aliens" is a very different mood, and a lot more playful.
The Road Here
Roman Cigan moved to the UK in 2015, bought his first DJ controller a year later and moved to CDJs by 2019. "Playing other people's music wasn't enough," he told us in June, so in 2017 he started producing and launched Soundevote. The journey has taken in Ministry of Sound in London and a summer 2019 set at Itaca Beach in Ibiza.
What's next? He's keeping the details close and says he prefers to surprise rather than be predictable. New music and collaborations are in motion, with live gigs possible down the line.
Listen
"Aliens" is out now on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, SoundCloud, Beatport and all major streaming platforms. Put it on loud, give it until the bassline switch, & decide which camp you're in.
👇 Follow ROMAN CIGI
Comments