At times translucent and thought provoking, fragments of The Three P’s of Electronics (Plone, Plaid & Plod) manage to overtake the ears with melodic, plush and polished spheres of digital-dust.
[Release page] We’ve said it before… there must be something in the Icelandic air as Skurken (aka Möller label head) unveils his recent thirteen-pack of uplifting electrical sparks on Gilsbakki (the title happens to be a town situated in the western interior of Iceland).
Floating loosely between detailed instrumentation and a tangled maze of wires, these modulated-swells featured from start to end push infinite mechanical tones forming a smothered beauty. At times translucent and thought provoking, fragments of The Three P’s of Electronics (Plone, Plaid & Plod) manage to overtake the ears with melodic, plush and polished spheres of digital-dust. Gliding past these sun-warped audio paintings is an iced, synthesizer-based lushness. But just when you thought everything was figured out, relaxed as can be, Skurken elevates the oscillation by scraping beat-intensive patches briskly across the landscape. Presenting collages of thick ambience in parallel with twisted analog waveforms, Skurken doesn’t just create sonic distractions, he seemingly adjusts the color tones along the way. Evident on the gorgeous cover graphics (courtesy of Nói Jóhannsson), Skurken’s implementation of rhythmic glitch’n bass reveals a flurry of nostalgic moods. These are clearly delicately drenched constructions.
Shifting melody versus melancholy to their outer edges, Gilsbakki is a grove of mystery tied to percussive flashes, hallucinogenic electronics, and contemplative grooves. Fans of Karsten Pflum and Solvent may also gravitate towards Skurken’s clean-cut production skills as this album digs straight into past iterations of IDM without losing any of its forward-thinking luster.
Gilsbakki is out now on Möller. [Release page]
