Espen Reinertsen — Venus er i håret

Hardly a moment goes by on Venus er i håret that does not bloom like a lush electronic flower. This is the established parlance of pop that the Norwegian Espen Reinertsen is known for.  Over five tracks, we are ensconced in a world populated by drawn-out vocal deliveries and carefully textured drums, horns, and synths, the latter of which sit squarely in the field of early gaming aesthetics. 

Fitting, really, for an album that feels drenched in the stuff of nostalgia without ever feeling retrograde. “Skal jeg følge deg til havet” begins with a smattering of 8-bit loveliness before sliding into the album’s warm mixture of Reinertsen’s vocals and accompanying rhythm, a pleasant combination of acoustic and electronic beats. 

The emphasis on singing might rub some listeners the wrong way at first, but after repeated listening sessions, my own aversion quickly dissolved into the lavish production, hearing the voice as one essential element in this opulent mix. For all of the higher registers of Reinertsen’s voice and the Chiptune bleeps, there are some excellent synth bass lines on “Muskelminner fra arkanoidepoken”, counterpointed by flute and the aforementioned Commodore 64-topologies. There are numerous names to reference here, and one, Cornelius’s Point (2001) is certainly close, but so is (at the risk of being unpopular), Radiohead’s Kid A from the previous year. That period was, in hindsight, a move toward more mature gestures than those of the post-rock that came before. The key difference here with Reinertsen is the conspicuous absence of overwrought emotion—let’s toast to that!

Fans of Reinertsen’s work or the acts mentioned, which are but a few signposts in a field of many, will rejoice at the second coming. Others looking for a nostalgic, golden age of electronica offering will be warmed and maybe even pleasantly surprised.  For more