Funk is sliced into cold machine movements as clinical beats batter.
A name like Ola Bergman makes me feel old. I first came across this Scandanavian artist in 2001 when he shared an LP for Skam’s hit and miss offshoot label SMAK. Since then Bergman’s output has been sporadic with his focus being on IDM and Electronica on the likes of New Speak. Then in 2005 he seemed to disappear. Fast forward six years IDM has been sidelined for a much rawer electro sound on imprints like Stilleben. It is from this curious background that Obergman’s latest EP arrives on Abstract Forms, Cyclic Multiverse.
Unsurprisingly, this isn’t an Electronica record. Instead the Swedish man delivers eight pieces of raw Electro. Funk is sliced into cold machine movements as clinical beats batter. The ice-like winds of Northern Europe are definitely present, frozen basslines meet arctic snares for “Regelverk.” This altogether chilly aspect is coupled by a dark and sinister undercurrent. Those endless nights of Winter are captured in the staggered loneliness of “Alkaid” and the bitter bars of “Radio Anstalt.” Across the EP is a tempered aggression. Sharp stares, gritted teeth and clenched fists given a terse audio form in the frustrated simplicity of “Mono/Polygamy.” The record ends with “August 8.” Arpeggios judder under oscillation strains for a final piece of mechanical music.
It’s interesting to see the shift in Ola Bergman’s style. His warmer moments are now a memory, instead laconic Electro is the focus. But there is an undercurrent of Funk coursing through the chill, a current that fillets some of those harsher machine moments a severe and subtle sound.
Cyclic Multiverse is available on Abstract Forms.
