Svein Berge and Torbjorn Brundtland are back with the follow-up to their hugely popular album Junior,
and they continue their streak as one of the standout Scandinavian electro-bands of the last decade.
As per usual they produced the album and play almost everything, with the exception of the strings,
and a few tracks which feature guest appearances on guitar, bass or drums.
This album opens with the
caffeinated seven-minute long “Tricky Two,” and it lays the groundwork for a promising outing. “The
Alcoholic” continues that high standard with a swell, minimalist, analog-synth sound that rides a cool
melody line alongside a mid-tempo rock beat. Quite uplifting, in a chilly Casio-tone way, as it turns
out. “Senior Living” offers up a take on a hazy, South Seas kind of floatiness, and then it morphs into
a lengthy Pink Floyd-ian passage that more than carries its own weight. Some of this material has a
strange 90s bent, and some of it comes across as a less aggressive, more chilled-out Aphex Twin.
The
latter half of the album drifts off into the ether a little more and loses some of its focus, but overall it is
another significantly better-than-workmanlike effort from “two of the coolest cats on the Scandinavian
music scene.” And a far sight better than a white hot spindle-leg up your bum, yessir.
