Optics – Atlea (2026) – Album Review

Articles Bass Dub Electronic Genres Review
SLTHR
January 22, 2026
6 minutes read

Release Date: January 16, 2026

Atlea is an electronic music producer conjuring music in Olympia, Washington, originally from Alaska. Their works have consistently aligned with the ethos of Katabatik, a sound system and record label established in 2001. Though readily available online to those inclined to seek it out, Katabatik and Atlea alike codify the cold and esoteric in electronic music.

Optics is a five-track EP mastered by Michael Buchanen of Katabatik and Hyperboreal Audio. Tracks 1-3 feature a darker, more abstract exploration of rhythm consistent with the album cover by Kelly Porter.

When lights go low

With the very first chilling chord, we are no longer in fairer latitudes, but rather we materialize in the northernmost habitable reaches, the valleys of eternal twilight. We bask in the purple hues of perpetual dusk and dawn and solar showers of ethereal radiance. Slowly the rhythmic elements creep in, preternatural yet quantized. At full stride, rhythmic percussion, roaring bass and haunting arpeggios carve out an eldritch landscape.

Blank Slate

Like clockwork, Atlea begins infusing more dub elements into the composition. Akin to the sunburst pads of Boards of Canada, the off-kilter chords stir a sense of familiarity and awaken nostalgia. All the while, round bass roars and growling synthesizers crack a distant knell over hypnotic percussion. One can’t shake the foreboding sense of an approaching animus veiled in the mysterious arpeggios.

Call to Sunset

Without hesitation, the first bass growls. No longer is this a distant cipher, but we’re encircled by a purring beast that was no doubt summoned by the accompanying spectral choir. Consistent with other compositions, the hi-hats articulate a skewed lumen; arpeggios rise and mutate into the firmament, and we’re suspended in the aether.

To the Moon (dub) feat. Ceremonial Abyss and Identity Theft

This track marks a departure from the previous tracks with a lofty dub composition. It features Ceremonial Abyss and Identity Theft, both members of Katabatik. The vocoder vox over angelic dubby strings offer a stark juxtaposition to the arcane influence of the previous 3 tracks. The mesmerizing voice charms us further into a hypnotic sway.

Lux Eterna (Remix) – Mateo Paz feat Katrena Marie

Lux Eterna is a remix of Mateo Paz’s track on the album “Requiem”. This song takes us further from the alien landscapes into a celestial realm with the voice of Katrena Marie aka Sporothrix. We have returned to a familiar terrestrial plane, though ascending to a lunar expanse.