release date:
3 july 2026 (digital)
17 july 2026 (vinyl / usa)
7 august 2026 (vinyl / uk/eu)
format: lp (exclusive edition of 100 copies on green iridescent vinyl in a screenprinted jacket and slipcase) / standard edition of 200 copies on black vinyl in a screenprinted jacket) / digital
label: sfi recordings
‘Lars Meijer, aka Hunter Complex, has been making forward thinking electronic music for years now. With each album Lars added layers, depth, and a continuity that blended both the driving world of German electronic music of the 70s with the more brighter spots of 80s electronic. Albums like Open Sea and Dead Calm and Zero Degrees encapsulated a very singular yet reminiscent sound, bringing to mind everyone from Mark Isham to Jan Hammer to Klaus Schulze. With his last full-length, the excellent Airports and Ports Lars Meijer turned a corner into new territory, touching on jazz, new age, and a cinematic lean.
Hunter Complex has turned yet another sonic corner with the beguiling and gorgeous Call of the Wild and Void Lars has filled his newest record with a team of excellent players to fill out his musical vision with flute, trumpet, acoustic guitar, and even harmonica. The results are a widescreen musical experience, bringing to mind 80s Tangerine Dream, the score work of Mark Isham, and with Lars’ lush piano work touches of Bruce Hornsby come to light. From stunning album opener One More Drift to the new age beauty of Eagle Bay to the gorgeous closer Inbetween Hurricanes Lars takes us on a journey on the wide open sea.
As Meijer noted, ‘The album captures a quest for inner peace, using natural phenomena, nature, and especially the sea as metaphors.’ Call of the Wild and Void is a wide scope of sonic pleasures and musical optimism.’ – J Hubner (Complex Distractions)
call of the wild and void
Call of the Wild and Void is the sixth studio album by Hunter Complex and arrives 3 July 2026 on the Seattle-based label SFI Recordings. It features contributions from Aquiles Navarro (trumpet), new age legend Kat Epple (flute) and many more. Call of the Wild and Void is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed albums Airports and Ports (Burning Witches, 2022), Dead Calm and Zero Degrees (Burning Witches, 2020) and Open Sea (Death Waltz, 2019). The artwork was created by Andrew Crawshaw for Broken Press.
Hunter Complex is the moniker of Dutch artist Lars Meijer. ‘On this album, my piano plays a big part again, like it did on my lo-fi work in the 90s. Airports and Ports from 2022 already sounded a lot more organic because guest musicians played trumpet, flute and guitar on it. But thanks to my piano parts, this album has become even more human, without losing the futuristic sound of the synthesizers, because that is still the foundation of my music. The album captures a quest for inner peace, using natural phenomena, nature and especially the sea as metaphors.’
Guest musicians
Besides Meijer on synthesizers, piano and various electronics, Call of the Wild and Void features contributions from the following artists:
Kat Apple (flute, Emerald Web)
Aquiles Navarro (trumpet, Irreversible Entanglements)
Lucy Valentine (electric guitar, Silver Nun)
Ruben Braeken (electric guitar, Glice)
Maarten Broekhuizen (acoustic guitar, Katadreuffe)
Coen Oscar Polack (field recordings, Moving Furniture Records)
Daan de Bruyne (bass, De Stokers)
Sjef Huurdeman (harmonica / bass harmonica)
Wolf Meijer (drums, Fighting For Records)
‘I am very honored that Kat Epple is playing with me again. Her group Emerald Web, which she had with her late husband Bob Stohl from 1978 to 1990, created a fascinating world of synths and organic sounds. For One More Drift Kat drew inspiration from the political situation in the US and the world, but despite the anger, positivity shines through in what she plays. On that same track, Daan de Bruyne, with whom I once was in a grunge band, adds a dark, brooding bass.’
‘Aquiles Navarro is back again on the trumpet. Everytime I see him play, usually with his group Irreversible Entanglements, he surprises me with new directions. In Voice of the Coast, he manages to transport the atmosphere of the Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack to the film Chinatown (from 1974, starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway) to the present day. On Eagle Bay he plays it cool, with beautiful light melancholic touches.’
‘I saw Lucy Valentine play at the Pletterij in Haarlem during one of the amazing ‘Keuken’ evenings. I was blown away by her guitar playing; all by herself, she managed to create a dystopian wall of guitar that Godspeed You! Black Emperor requires an entire orchestra for. Ruben Braeken has just made the fantastic album Envoi with his group Glice. He is a great improviser on the electric guitar, adding shimmer and shine to Losing the River.’
‘No fewer than three musicians play on The Lure of the Animal. Sjef Huurdeman, who booked me in the nineties to open for Smog at the Patronaat in Haarlem, plays subtle harmonica, Maarten Broekhuizen (from the band Katadreuffe) plays sparkling and meticulous acoustic guitar, and my son Wolf Meijer can be heard on drums. Coen Oscar Polack, with whom I played in Living Ornaments and Psychon (Troopers) earlier this century, managed to capture the drama of a storm in his field recordings on Inbetween Hurricanes.’
SFI Recordings
SFI Recordings is a record label based in Seattle, WA, USA. It was founded by Andrew Crawshaw in 2020 and is dedicated to cosmic emanations and eldritch echoes focusing on limited edition vinyl and cassette releases. All releases come in packaging screenprinted by Broken Press, a custom design and screenprinting shop owned and operated by Crawshaw and Danielle Skredsvig in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. Broken Press specializes in posters, art prints and record packaging. Previous artists released by SFI Recordings include Paul Riedl, Joachim Nordwall + Aaron Turner, Meridian Arc, Steve Moore, Timothy Fife and previous Hunter Complex collaborator Justin Sweatt.
Hunter Complex
Hunter Complex is the moniker of Dutch artist Lars Meijer. In the late eighties Meijer began releasing rudimentary synth music on handmade tapes, before turning to lo-fi pop as Larz in 1994, resulting in two albums on the Californian cult label Blackbean and Placenta. Around the turn of the century Meijer released several albums with the improvisational electro-acoustic band Psychon Troopers and electronic music duo Living Ornaments, including music on famous labels like Deathbomb Arc and Skam.
Meijer began working as Hunter Complex in 2008. The self-titled debut album came out in 2010 and was influenced by synthpop and new wave bands from the 1980s. Follow-up Heat, which was released on Narrominded in 2013, was the last album to feature vocals, but the first featuring the trademark layers of warm and bright digital synths. With Open Sea Meijer delivered an album full of ‘supreme synth goodness’, according to the Death Waltz label that released the album in 2019. Twin record Dead Calm and Zero Degrees was released in 2020 on Burning Witches Records.
Airports and Ports was released in 2022 on Burning Witches Records and took a new direction with influences from new age, ethereal jazz and krautrock. It features contributions by Aquiles Navarro (trumpet), Kat Epple (flute), Alexander Hawkins (piano, Louis Moholo-Moholo), Justin Sweatt (aka Xander Harris, guitar) and Coen Oscar Polack (field recordings).
After the release of Airports and Ports (2022), Meijer did a live score in October 2023 to Der Golem, Wie Er in die Welt Kam, a silent movie by Paul Wegener from 1920, at the Imagine Fantastic Film Festival in Amsterdam. A soundtrack to the short animated film Oars and Ears by Marna van Hal arrived in November 2025.
The press on previous albums
Airports and Ports (2022):
‘Peerless, full of tranquility and sonic comfort’ ★★★★★ (de Volkskrant)
‘Shuttles between ambient New Age, filmic nostalgia and improv exploration’ ★★★★ (Mojo Magazine)
‘On Airports and Ports Meijer made his grandest musical statement yet, incorporating jazz elements and even symphonic touches that brings to mind both what came before as well as early CTI releases from Freddie Hubbard and even the great Mark Isham.’ (Complex Distractions)
Dead Calm and Zero Degrees (2020):
‘The new Hunter Complex record is brilliant’ (Louder Than War)
Open Sea (2019):
‘It isn’t one of those abstract modular jamming records: it is full of melodic interests and rhythmic fun, although it does also have a great textural richness’ (Norman Records)
tracklisting
side one
1. one more drift
2. offshore oblivion
3. voice of the coast
4. back to the world
side two
1. the lure of the animal
2. eagle bay
3. losing the river
4. inbetween hurricanes
press downloads
