Peder Mannerfelt's inquiring mind has led him into some interesting projects over the years, including work with Fever Ray and as half of Roll The Dice. But most of his solo experiments have been sheathed in a dark industrial casing, which is starting to look pretty drab. Lately he's found some more eye-catching looks. There was The Swedish Congo Record, on which he used synths to painstakingly reproduce recordings made in 1930s Central Congo, and a strange and sweaty dance EP for Ultimate Hits. His new album, Controlling Body, tries out yet more fresh colours. It doesn't have a Congo-like concept (probably a good thing given the knotty appropriation questions raised by that record), but it does have a sort of protagonist, the synth pop artist Glasser, whose voice binds the album together.
Of course, Mannerfelt doesn't settle for simply framing her voice with his asymmetric beats. Instead, he weaves it deep into the fabric of his music. On opener "Building Of The Mountain," a single wordless note repeats alongside a handful of other sounds, each spinning carefully around the others like the arms of a child's mobile. On "Limits To Growth," Mannerfelt fades between the words "create" and "growth," while dry, precise drum patterns tense and relax. Much of the album uses this structure, setting a few loops into uneven motion and then letting them splay apart and reform. Most tracks don't seem to go anywhere, but by the time they finish we're somewhere quite unexpected.
Mannerfelt gets a lot of variety from his approach. The billowing chords of "BZ Reaction" and "The Confidence Of Ignorance" recall dub techno; the former's sour guitar twangs are particularly juicy. Elsewhere, the mood is spookier, as on "Coast To Coast" and "Abysmal," whose B-movie atmosphere gives way to weird blasts of choir. Sometimes Mannerfelt riffs on the club-leaning sound of his Ultimate Hits record. "Her Move" is oddball techno with the compulsive bounce of Oni Ayhun. Album highlight "Perspective" is bizarre cubist electro. It might be potent on a dance floor, but as ever, Mannerfelt can't stop tweaking things, shuffling patterns around to send dancing bodies reeling off balance.
Glasser's voice doesn't emerge fully formed from this strange soup until the closing track, "I Love You," on which Mannerfelt's exploratory loops are arranged into something like a song. It's no less original than lots of his solo work, but quite a bit more entertaining to listen to.
Of course, Mannerfelt doesn't settle for simply framing her voice with his asymmetric beats. Instead, he weaves it deep into the fabric of his music. On opener "Building Of The Mountain," a single wordless note repeats alongside a handful of other sounds, each spinning carefully around the others like the arms of a child's mobile. On "Limits To Growth," Mannerfelt fades between the words "create" and "growth," while dry, precise drum patterns tense and relax. Much of the album uses this structure, setting a few loops into uneven motion and then letting them splay apart and reform. Most tracks don't seem to go anywhere, but by the time they finish we're somewhere quite unexpected.
Mannerfelt gets a lot of variety from his approach. The billowing chords of "BZ Reaction" and "The Confidence Of Ignorance" recall dub techno; the former's sour guitar twangs are particularly juicy. Elsewhere, the mood is spookier, as on "Coast To Coast" and "Abysmal," whose B-movie atmosphere gives way to weird blasts of choir. Sometimes Mannerfelt riffs on the club-leaning sound of his Ultimate Hits record. "Her Move" is oddball techno with the compulsive bounce of Oni Ayhun. Album highlight "Perspective" is bizarre cubist electro. It might be potent on a dance floor, but as ever, Mannerfelt can't stop tweaking things, shuffling patterns around to send dancing bodies reeling off balance.
Glasser's voice doesn't emerge fully formed from this strange soup until the closing track, "I Love You," on which Mannerfelt's exploratory loops are arranged into something like a song. It's no less original than lots of his solo work, but quite a bit more entertaining to listen to.
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Published /
Tue / 3 May 2016 -
Words /
Angus Finlayson -
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Tracklist /
01. Building Of The Mountain
02. Her Move
03. BZ Reaction
04. Coast To Coast
05. Limits To Growth
06. Abysmal
07. Perspectives
08. The Confidence Of Ignorance
09. I Love You
Moscow
Utrecht
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