In an age where so much electronic music has chosen to strip back, to dumb down and pander to the room, this Danish imprint has decided to take the road less traveled; and they’ve found something pretty special at the end of that path.
I went to Copenhagen last Easter. Maybe it was the Easter before. I remember thinking to myself on the flight, why didn’t I go to Greece? I’m not putting Copenhagen down. Right, I kinda am. The town is clean, interesting enough and does have its charms; but I couldn’t help feeling that it was sort of dead. Nice bread mind. Yet the old saying does ring true with the Danish capital. You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, a record by its sleeve or a city by its somewhat bland exterior. Dig underneath that façade of 8 euro beers and there might just be something daring beneath.
Posh Isolation is as unassuming as the town its founders call home. Loke Rahbek and Christian Stadsgaard (the pair being better known as Damien Dubrovnik) have nurtured a roster of able and remarkably diverse musicians with little fanfare, allowing the music to do the promoting.
Both men are central contributors to their label, each offering a dizzying number of monikers and pseudonyms. Groups like Body Sculptures are emblematic of the label, Rahbek being a member. A five man collective, each member coming from a different musical background, constitutes the group. Their sound is founded in electronics, but putting a genre tag their sound is pretty difficult. Ambient is the easiest box to put A Body Turns Eden into, but it would’t be fitting. The album is a submersion in experimentation, soft and absorbing. Strings glide and groan. Beats hop and hide. Echoes come home. Every track is totally individual, barely recognizable to its siblings. Atmospherics that call on field recordings, live sessions, traditional instruments and machines for a collection that is as compelling as it is daringly complex.
Norin represents a more electronic angle. Modular rinses spilling out into bass as broad synths sweep. The mechanics of techno are employed on his recent Reflekterar EP, or the shadows of said mechanics. Drum patterns are hollowed out leaving behind empty husks from which grow a series of weaving loops. Chords overlap, colliding before slipping past each other for a three tracker that explores the borders between styles.
Ambient is a central column of the artists who call Posh Isolation home. Olymphia’s Music For A Dance Performance bobs on a sea of resonance, echo, shuffles and impulsive shifts. Lust for Youth’s Kyo come from a similar, but different, musical place. Brass and strings are laid on a bed of stretched wire for his recent Untitled album. Tracks jar and judder, seeming to gallop free as they twist and turn. Yet there is control, Kyo reining in discordance when it feels that all has been lost. Then in the blink of a run out everything switches, fragile classical tones descending for enthralling compositions.
To be honest, I can´t imagine I’ll be heading back to Copenhagen anytime soon. Although it’s a lovely place, full of culture and history, my next city break will probably be somewhere lighter on the wallet. I will be returning to Posh Isolation. In an age where so much electronic music has chosen to strip back, to dumb down and pander to the room, this Danish imprint has decided to take the road less traveled; and they’ve found something pretty special at the end of that path.
Visit Posh Isolation at www.poshisolation.net. [Facebook | Soundcloud]
