Janus Rasmussen, him out of the rather wonderful Kiasmos, is cooking up a stunning solo album.
I've covered Kiasmos before. I declared their self-titled debut album the Third Best Album Of 2014, which undersold it something horrible because it was most definitely the number one best album of that year. Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen's amazing collaboration still twangs my brainstrings even if I catch a single note.
Rasmussen's new solo album Inert, released on 9 June 2026 on Berlin's Embassy One Records, will delight anyone who wants a bit more oomph to the Kiasmos sound. It’s called Inert but it's super un-inert. Ert?! It's made for the club – tip top trouser-wobbling, clog-clomping, elbow-waggling fayre.
He says of the album: "Inert is my attempt to break out of a mould I somehow found myself in while writing music. I felt a need to open things up, to sing, and to let the songs move freely between genres without overthinking where they belonged.
"Lyrically, the album is very open-ended, almost like meditations on guilt or feeling bad for no clear reason, which makes it the most revealing body of work I’ve written so far. It feels like an honest reset, both creatively and emotionally."
Consider the mould successfully broken. It's so dang SNAPPY. Full of ear-tickling wubbles and bubbles. There's the delicious arp curves of Murk, and a full-on synth pop stomp called Fumes complete with EDM synth giddiness and sassy call-and-response vocals.
The tricksy moments are pleasing too, such as the de-spannered found-sound beat of Tomb or the scampering rolling percussion of Blame.
It's one of those sad vocal albums, with lyrics like "I thought you were there in a puddle of mud" and "fingers trace where the tracks decay." But as long as you can cope with the tuneful moping, you'll be fine.
It'll appeal to people into James Blake, Modeselektor and Bicep. Pre-order here.
No comments:
Post a Comment