I looked up Mats Erlandsson expecting to find a huge discography of microscopic-edition tape releases from obscure European labels. However, there is almost nothing: he is not part of any other bands, has only a few other tracks on a Bandcamp page and none are available in a physical format. So while not true in the most technical sense, I’m going to call this his “debut.”
And it is one hell of a debut. A thunderous crack of bass begins a 40-odd minute journey through vast ambient landscapes, thick with clouds of vibrating electronic pitches and landmarked by deep, skull-vibrating drones. It feels expansive and lonely, conjuring images of grey northern beaches (the seashells on the cover probably helped with that one) and foggy, rock-strewn alpine vistas; places remote and serene in their emptiness. As the album progresses the bass gets lower and distortion seeps into everything, building towards the ecstatic final track “Consensual Factories,” which itself eventually disintegrates into twinkling synth dust. I don’t know where you came from Mr. Erlandsson, but it would be totally cool with me if you put out a few more tapes in rapid succession.
