- Björn Isgren, Johan Sturesson and Jan Svensson are analog hardware enthusiasts who began releasing music as Frak while teenagers in the late '80s. Three decades later, the group's sound hasn't evolved much beyond the EBM, acid and techno that first inspired the project. Dark Entries seems to celebrate that fact on Sudden Haircut, a grab-bag of new, reissued and unreleased productions from the Swedish trio.
The newest of the bunch, "Sudden Haircut" is a pressure cooker of seesawing synth grooves and nimble 808 sequences. Sly rhythmic shifts play out underneath rolling bass notes, punchy chords and a growing air of malaise, all of it conspiring to pull you deeper into the rhythmic trance. The plumes of shrill noise swell and dissipate around Frak's motorik churn, and their melodic undertones offer as much depth as the spacey textures. When it all fades out in the final seconds, you get the sense that "Sudden Haircut" could have gone another ten minutes without losing its immense power.
"Synthfrilla" and "Synthgök" were first released by Sex Tags Mania in 2012 and recorded two years prior. Their sprightly electro holds up impeccably, and gives Sudden Haircut a lighter mood, revealing the playful energy that feels inherent in even Frak's rougher tunes. Closer "First Glimt I Ögat," an unheard slow-groover from 2001, is all boomy drum machine and low-slung bass, but in the experienced hands of these Swedes, even austerity takes on a madcap glow.
TracklistA1 Sudden Haircut
A2 Synthfrilla
B1 Synthgok
B2 First Glimt I Ögat