Ekkoflok — Mosaik
[Clang — 2022]★★★★★
Reviewed 17 November 2022by Paul Casey
Mixing home-built machines, prepared acoustic instruments, and self-written code, Danish sound artist and composer, Valdemar Kristensen (here as Ekkoflok), has come up with an intriguing and varied electronic composition with his latest LP, Mosaik. Traversing the wide space between subtle, minimal electronics and crunching, abrasive noise, Ekkoflok brings together a world of sound that upon first glance seems to be quite disparate, but in his deft hands becomes a wonderful whole built from the sum of its parts. A mosaic worthy of the album title, this latest release is a quick, sonic excursion into the heart and soul of machines and the very essence of electronic sound.
Mosaik is a fantastic blend of different tones, textures, and tempos. Composed of varied but fundamentally related pieces, Ekkoflok creates an electronic atmosphere that showcases each different sonic biome as a flourishing, unique piece while still stitching the parts together to construct an overarching whole. Approaching the pieces of this mosaic with a lower, more down tone and feeling, one can more easily connect with the electronic textures that construct the album's theme. The further men integrate with and utilize machines for their daily lives and expressions, the closer the two become to becoming one. With this synergy looming closer and closer each day, one begins to understand more of one's life through the electronic tones and textures of the machine and a sort of hybridization begins to take place. Over the course of Mosaik's 37 minutes, Ekkoflok introduces the listener to eight different pieces and eight different looks at human perception via machine language. For those familiar with this communication, the worlds and atmospheres shown are vibrant and evocative, and for the others, although it may seem alien, it is indeed a part of them, and this curiosity begins to take hold. Not knowing which sound or texture is around the corner, Mosaik leaves the listener in an excited state as the album progresses.
Valdemar Kristensen has composed a fantastic trip through varied electronic realms with his latest release as Ekkoflok, Mosaik. Available now on LP/digital through Clang, this album puts a lot of exploration on the listener, and plays as well randomly as it does straight through. At only 28 years old, Valdemar has already quite a career behind him and with Mosaik, we're treated to another excellent release in a life that should give us many more sonic treasures. To indulge yourself