ERIK LEVANDER
Kondens
RUM012
Rumraket 2008
09 Tracks. 43mins46secs

Erik Levander’s first release, Tonad, of which only 500 copies were made, was published at the end of 2004 on Swedish imprint Neon Records. Since, Levander has been spotted guesting on a handful of Efterklang records, yet most of his time has been spent working on this follow up. Unfortunately for Levander, things went terribly wrong while he was at an advanced stage in the recording process, when his computer suffered a major crash and, as he had no backup, he lost two years’ worth of work. A further two years on, Kondens has finally seen the light of day through Efterklang’s Rumraket imprint.

A classically trained musician who plays amongst other things clarinet, guitar, piano, harmonica and percussions, Levander spent most of his formative years listening to bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth and Red House Painters. It is perhaps the Spartan settings and poetry of the latter that find their way through his music in the most obvious fashion, yet the layers of statics and the delicate electronics that inform opening track Sekund are more in tune with modern electronic music. Indeed, one can easily draw parallels between Levander’s work and that found on labels as diverse as Apestaartje, Type, Expanding Records or Highpoint Lowlife for instance.

Levander’s compositions involve a wide range of acoustic sonic sources which are consequently processed and altered until they are, in many cases, barely recognisable. The resulting rendering greatly emphasises the atmospheric undertones of the music, with sounds placed in strategic places to reveal sudden moments of sheer beauty that could have been lying dormant under the surface for some time, spikes of electricity erupting from nowhere, or disconcerting jagged rhythmic density which leaves the listener wondering whether the CD hasn’t skipped. All this happens while subtle melodies a woven in the background and track almost unnoticeably flow past.

Throughout Kondens, Levander alternates between ethereal and more concrete moments he arranges soft or distorted sounds into finely detailed pieces. It is not rare to have him start with only sparse components layered over occasional clicks before building up the momentum by introducing coarser, saturated, sounds. Oskärpa, Tolvupop or Hitta Hem are fine examples of this, each track following a similar template and providing some of the most intense moments of this record. It takes some time for Oskärpa to evolve from the gentle melody and calm environments of its first half into the richer formations of its latter section, but when the piece finally erupts into layers of saturated noise, it does so in very elegant fashion. Tolvupop doesn’t quite reach the same level of intensity, but Levander compensates by moving the piece at a much faster pace. The opening moment of Hitta Hem see a short repetitive theme played on an acoustic guitar finding its way through dense layers while tiny sounds give the impression of being on a pavement in the rain, but the backdrop progressively develops and take centre stage as grittier elements are introduced.

Elsewhere, Levander chooses to focus more exclusively on delicate pieces, at times giving them an almost orchestral feel. On Månen Viskar, Levander builds evanescent strips from lonely clarinet sequences, which are layered to form melancholic harmonic phrases. Alone at first, they are progressively surrounded by stuttering electronics and rarefied chords. Vid Fönstret slowly rises above a recurring guitar line to incorporate the more stringent sound of an oud while atmospheric clouds linger in the background. With Tribut, Levander strips down his composition entirely, exposing his classical roots for a moment as he solely relies on a piano, while Sömnbrusten, which closes Kondens, is a rather fine piece which finds itself at the confluent of electronica and isolationism.

With his second effort, Erik Levander has had to face great challenges, but the result is surprisingly peaceful and delicate. He never veers far from his chosen path, but, far from sounding uniform, it give Kondens great consistency and serves the poetry which informs the music very well indeed.

4.4/5

Erik Levander | Rumraket
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