CROATIAN AMOR & VARG2TM - Body Of Carbon

Loke Rahbek and Jonas Rönnberg join forces for an EP titled "Body Carbon". The new release on Posh Isolation continues along the path taken by the Croatian Amor project. Anyone who has followed the Danish electronic scene for a while will recall how Rahbek has shifted the style of his releases under this moniker over the past few years. The artist has moved from a melancholic ambient drone, at times tainted by post-industrial grime, to hi-tech sounds in the vein of M.E.S.H., dense with sampled fragments and broken-up rhythms. It's a transformation that seems fairly drastic if you revisit an album like "The World", released in 2013, or even "Genitalia Garden", released the following year.

This new work also continues along that same path, but in this case it shows a certain weariness and a marked drop in tension. What's missing above all is the technological and emotional paranoia of albums like "Love Means Taking Action" or "Isa". Here it only surfaces in small doses, on "God's Face In The Water".

Jonas Rönnberg's contribution hasn't helped much either. He recently had to change his moniker to Varg² ™ following a protest from the German pagan death metal band of the same name, Varg. Legal matters aside, the Swedish artist's latest releases have hardly shone, padding things out and recycling the formula of a trance-HD sound with post-IDM shadings, seasoned with pretentious winks at the world of fashion and art galleries. Take another listen, if you will, to the not-quite-successful "Evanescence (A Love Letter)".

A whole different story was the excellent collaboration with Anthony Linell on "Razor Mesh Fencing", an album released in early 2019 under the Ulwhednar name, undoubtedly one of the best techno releases of the year (though one suspects the credit lies mostly with Linell). It might be a bit early to talk of a crisis, but Varg² ™ is seriously at risk of going from hype to broken promise, unless he soon comes up with something closer to the level of Nordic Flora Series Pt.3 (Gore-Tex City).

In short, despite the big names involved, what we have here is little more than a decent dancefloor exercise, pleasant enough in places (the dissonant title track does its dirty job), but one that honestly leaves us expecting a lot more.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

03/12/2019