BUILDING INSTRUMENT - Månen, Armadillo

Norway's Building Instrument have built a discography marked by consistency and expressive intensity, with over ten years in the catalogue of the small but prestigious label Hubro. Mari Kvien Brunvoll, Øyvind Hegg-Lunde and Åsmund Weltzien have spent recent years collaborating with many other artists, and now return after seven years of silence with a new album, "Månen, Armadillo".

The blend of electronics, airy folk textures and minimalism is enchanting once again. Building Instrument's music moves along the borders of avant-garde abstraction, in a play of references and unusual quotations that eludes the predictability of stylistically similar work.

Folktronica or ambient-pop? “Månen, Armadillo” is far more than a simple alchemical formula: the organic quality of the compositions is at times striking, between rhythmic and percussive flourishes that unsettle the harmonic fabric (“Sabar/Gull”), forays into dream-pop that pay devoted homage to Kate Bush (“Da/Innom” and “Le Laia”, the latter built around a poem by Federico Garcia Lorca), as well as ingenious soundscapes built from electronics, rhythmic patterns and acoustic instruments (“Saunte”).

It's impossible not to recognize the depth of the instrumental writing and the bold structure of the compositions on “Månen, Armadillo”. Tracks like “Baby, Når Du Sover” and “Hand/Vindfang” are as ambitious as they are otherworldly, set within a sonic puzzle where sampling, live processing, vocals and handcrafted instruments (kora, Hardanger fiddle, vibraphone, glockenspiel, wind instruments, zither and whistles) come together with an unusual, almost freak-like spirituality.

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27/12/2025