Ståle Storløkken — The Haze of Sleeplessness

Built around mostly retro synthesizers, mellotron's, and organs The Haze of Sleeplessness moves between quaint & playful early electronica/ambience, and noisier to more moody fare. The CD album comes in with a relatively short/almost EP runtime of thirty-two minutes; but it’s a nicely satisfying at this length- as nothing ever feels overstretched, indulgent, or contrived.

The release appears on the Norwegian label Hubro- and the CD comes in the labels fairly house style mini gatefold packaging, which often features fairly abstract/ moody landscape pictures. This time, fitting the releases sleep/ dreaming theme we get a grey sky on the front cover- with a red & black pattern gatefold, highlight the more quirky/ almost easy listening tendencies that appear from time to time throughout the release.

In all the album takes in seven tracks- and these have runtimes between just over a minute, and nearing the eight & a half minute mark. The album begins with the lulling blend of slowly cascading Rhodes notation, and simmer 70’s synth glow- to-spacey climb of “Prelude To The Haze Of Sleeplessness”. As we move through the album we come to the spinning & bouncing string dart meets wavering unwell easy listening synth swoon & awkward harmonizing vocals of “Stranded At The Red Ice Desert. Remember Your loved ones( In Memory of My Dear Mother”- which sounds like the late 70’s/ early 80’s Residents trying to soundtrack a forlorn moment in a soap opera. Or there’s the creepy/ scuttling meets warning nostalgia ‘n’ bouncing-yet- blurred percussion of the final track “Nitro Valley”.

What makes The Haze of Sleeplessness stand out from the growing clutch of retro synth/ electronica album- is the whole things often waveringly noisy &  haphazard feel. Also, another plus is the way Storløkken is able and unafraid to blend together different eras, genre traits, and moods in an often unbalancing-yet-creative manner. Certainly, if you’ve become more than a little jaded by the often predictable & clichéd feel of a lot of retro electronic tooled records- I think you'll find The Haze of Sleeplessness a refreshing change.