Proplyd 133-353 Explores Consciousness and Sound on ‘Exoplanet’ EP
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
For Proplyd 133-353, movement has never been just physical. Long before the studio, before the alias, before even stepping into underground rooms, the idea of travel was already shaping how he understood the world. That early exposure, moving through different cultures and environments from a young age, left a lasting imprint on how he approaches sound today. Not as something fixed, but as something fluid, reactive, and constantly evolving.
“Having the opportunity to experience different cultures through music in their native and natural spaces was a privilege,” he explains. “It introduced me to the idea that musical inspiration and energy don’t come from only one place.” That perspective now sits at the core of his production. Exploration is not a theme layered on top of the music. It is the process itself.
That sense of movement extends beyond music. Alongside building his identity in underground techno, he has been training as a commercial airline pilot, a path that demands discipline, structure and precision. The contrast between both worlds is stark, but it feeds directly into how he works. “The discipline of studying and planning for flights… has built many layers of resilience,” he says. “The contrast of the structured procedures of my flights to boundless creativity when I produce music provides a unique balance.”
There is something telling in that balance. One side grounded in control, the other open-ended and instinctive. It mirrors the tension that runs through his debut EP ‘Exoplanet’, released via Adhesive Records, where sound becomes a way of navigating ideas that are harder to define in words.
Before that, though, came the dancefloor. While studying in Oxford, he would travel back north most weekends, drawn into Manchester’s underground through parties like HOL, Meatfree and early Teletech. Those spaces weren’t just formative; they sharpened his understanding of what techno could be when it is built around intention rather than visibility. “Being able to experience parties that are constructed tastefully and around the music… really helped to develop my own taste and maturity within techno,” he says.
That foundation fed directly into his early releases under his previous alias, including ‘Existentialism’, which quickly found its way into the hands of artists like KI/KI and Indira Paganotto. The moment that track crossed into wider circulation was not planned. It was instinct, shared on a whim, and then suddenly amplified. “Seeing the video… seemed absolutely crazy to me,” he says. “It was the first track I ever sent to any other artist.”
That period marked a turning point, but it also exposed the limits of what that identity could hold. The shift into Proplyd 133-353 was not just a rebrand; it was a conceptual expansion. “Proplyd 133-353 is all about the universally felt emotions and thought processes of existential thinking shared by humanity,” he explains. Instead of framing those ideas through a personal lens, the project opens them outwards, positioning the listener inside the same questions rather than observing them.
That approach runs through ‘Exoplanet’. The EP is built around metaphysical travel and the exploration of human consciousness, but it never feels forced into a rigid narrative. Instead, each track operates as its own environment. The opening piece, ‘Event Horizon’, sets the tone through atmosphere rather than rhythm. “I attempted to create an enveloping sonic image to signal the magnitude of the task ahead: dissecting one’s thoughts,” he says. It is less about directing the listener and more about placing them inside a space where interpretation becomes personal.
That idea deepens as the EP progresses. Tracks like ‘Cognitive Descent’ lean into darker territory, where texture and fragmentation mirror internal states rather than external energy. For him, that is where techno becomes most effective. “It doesn’t tell us what to feel… the opportunity for us as listeners to pour ourselves into the ridges and valleys of the track presents itself,” he says. The music becomes a framework, with the listener completing the experience.
It also feeds into how he views the wider scene. The underground, in his eyes, is not defined by scale or visibility, but by intention. “Underground is a mindset. You either have it, or you don’t,” he says. His criticism is not aimed at success or reach, but at the shift away from music as the central focus. When image and branding begin to outweigh the experience itself, something essential is lost.
‘Exoplanet’ feels like a response to that. Not in an overt or confrontational way, but through its refusal to simplify. It leans into ambiguity, into texture, into space, trusting that the listener will meet it halfway rather than demanding immediate reaction.
Looking ahead, there is no fixed destination. “Exoplanet… is the beginning of a journey without knowing the destination,” he says. That uncertainty is not something he tries to resolve. It is what drives the work forward. Each track is treated as its own entity, allowed to evolve without being forced into a predefined outcome.
In that sense, the project reflects the same principle that has guided him from the beginning. Movement without a fixed path. Exploration without a need for resolution. A process that mirrors the very ideas it is trying to express.
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