Why complicate your life when everything you need is
around you? That’s pretty much the approach adopted
by Andreas Bertilsson, a young Swedish musician, who
has just released his first album, Face Takes Shape,
on Malmö’s premier label Komplott. Face
Takes Shape is entirely built arounds sounds recorded
by Bertilsson in his own house, which he later processes
beyond recognition to form intricate sonic structures.
A proud owner of a master degree in fine arts, the Berlin-based
sound artist first got noticed on Komplott’s excellent
Starfield Simulation series released over the
last couple of years, with a selection of enigmatic
tracks evoking the sonic approach of Oval or Fennesz
in many ways. Building on these soundscapes, Face
takes Shape turns ordinary particles of life into
stellar constructions articulated around a backbone
of impeccable drones. The rattle that opens this album
is symptomatic of the underlying effervescence of Bertilsson’s
compositions. Far below the clouds of textures covering
the surface, the listener can just perceive the hectic
agitation happening at microscopic level. Bertilsson’s
compositions appear calm and slow moving, but it is
pure illusion. If New Garden is a rather upfront
formation of organic and vivid percussive elements wrestling
with a Pole-esque dub
and the glitch effects of NoteBook evokes Autechre
at their most subdued, the majority of the tracks here
seldom expose themselves so openly. Everything happens
at sub level, drawing the listener in Bertilsson’s
atmospheric wanderings, obliterating the very elements
of reality his music feeds on. The delicate arabesques
of Bed On My Back, Back Pages Of Mine
or Two Polar Sleds distract from the overactive
backgrounds for a moment to expand on Bertilsson’s
laidback and peaceful persona, providing a welcome break
in the city-like activity experienced in other tracks.
Sometimes bringing a bandoneon into the equation to
underline a soft-spoken melodic line, the Son Of Clay
sonic realm remains firmly stuck between impressionist
electronica and post-modern electro-acoustic, demarking
Bertilsson from the majority of the current electonic
scene. With such an approach, it would be easy to loose
sight of the emotional content of the music, but here
again, he manages to retain the focus with constant
injections of organic components.
Face Takes Shape is a fascinating record in
many ways. Building on the constructions of his Starfield
Simulation contributions, Andreas Bertilsson manages
to present an album that manages to deal with emotions
and abstraction in equal ways. A truly stunning debut.
4.7/5 |
