- When Finnish producer and relatively unknown quantity Albert Swarm emerged last year with Held, I wrote that it managed to explore many of the same themes as other in-between bass music artists without resorting to the same clichés and overused sounds. That EP was one of the prettiest of 2011, but it was an unconventional beauty, with melodies that spiraled off into unexpected shapes, and sounds arranged with a beguilingly steady hand for a newcomer. That cogent and clever ear for concise composition carries over to his debut album, Wake, which shows Pietu Arvola darkening his technicolour world via soundsystem culture.
As the quivering and tentative "Touched by the Sun" bleeds into the reversed pianos of "Something Glows" the sudden prominence of low-end is difficult to ignore. While Arvola's previous work certainly wasn't lacking in that respect, "Something Glows" (and the rest of Wake) growls with a physical primacy that's the complete antithesis to Held's fluttering ethereality. Thankfully, his music retains all the heavenly touches that made Held so arresting, like the warbly pitched-up keys and blurred choral vocals on "A Dream That Glistened."
The way that Wake flows as an album—as silkily smooth as the music itself—also bears mention, with clearly-defined sections that nevertheless seem to branch out in unpredictable paths rather than knock out a discernible beat. Pietu doesn't take a vocal sample and loop it over a garage beat; instead, he'll chart a long, winding melody that never quite repeats how it should. That's suspended over a field of shifting low-end quicksand that threatens to swallow the tracks as much as it props them up; the earth-shifting throb of a bassline on "Fadima" pulls the song's momentum into a sensually slow tailspin. It's not until "Things Fold into Themselves" that a beat begins to emerge, but this time it's the amniotic thump of techno, motoring on as the world around it opens up in full splendour. The track's climax—full of strings, booming drums and wandering Shackleton basslines—teeters on the edge of overwrought, but instead demonstrates Arvola's knack for staying on just the right side of the "tasteful" divide.
By the time Wake is ambling away on the slippery feet of "Moths and Moth Catchers," the radiant afterglow after a 30 minute trek to climax, chances are you'll feel like you've either been dragged along on an exhausting hike through mountains and riverbeds, or you'll be scratching your head wondering what just happened. That's the nature of Albert Swarm, a non-quantized gem in a world full of grids and click tracks. If you're not paying attention, it can fly by in a flurry of carefully channeled energy and sedate charm. If you are tuned in, however, the album's scant running time is a world of strange delights pinned down by a newfound love for bass that keeps it close to the earth, otherworldly but still within reach.
Tracklist01. Touched by The Sun
02. Something Glows
03. A Dream That Glistened
04. Fadima
05. He Took A Deep Breath
06. Things Fold Into Themselves
07. Moths & Moth Catchers