Calm Brutalism brings together Norwegian guitarist/ composer Svein Rikard Mathisen, from Brumunddal in the county of Hedmark north of Oslo, and Norwegian/ American electronic music genius, John Derek Bishop from Stavanger, who has been recording under the alter ego, Tortusa since 2016. Mathisen himself has been busy since making his debut with The Copenhagen Diaries in 2015, as well as recording the album Monsters with his band Somebody’s Quartet. 

The pair have come together to produce an album that really does live up to its name, Calm Brutalism is at times stark, gloomy and cold, in fact it’s probably the perfect soundtrack to accompany the written works of J. G. Ballard, and yet it’s also incredibly textured and beautiful in its own strange dark way. There is a lot more going on here than one would think at first glance. the music is multi-layered and yet it feels almost bare, it features monolithic slabs on electronic noise and yet it has a quiet ambience about it. At times it feels a like a big juxtaposition of styles and yet it never fails to impress. At times Rikard’s guitar adds a warm, almost human touch to what often feels like the mimicking sound of those great slow moving Norwegian glaciers. The sound is simply that big, however it also features moments of tenderness and can feel quite small and intimate at times. 

The album was recorded during lockdown and is the pair’s first foray into the sonic landscape together. One can’t help but feel this is a relationship that will continue to spawn further releases as the duo’s relationship continues to grow and develop. On the surface the album is a raw brutalist masterpiece, however if we look a little deeper, we can see it’s so much more than that, there is an unguarded vulnerability that flows throughout the album creating a softer side to the music, despite the fact it can feel dark and gloomy at times.

Overall, Cold Brutalism is quite an achievement for two men who have not worked together before, all of the sonic components gel so well that it feels like the two have been working together for years. The runtime for the album is reasonably short in this day and age at 38 minutes, however, I have always felt that around 35 to 45 minutes is the optimal length for an album of music, so for me, this works perfectly. If you enjoy music that challenges your ears by contradicting itself time and again but does it so perfectly that you can’t help but fall in love with it, this album is for you.