Thora Vukk

Album Review

With the crisp, tense crackle of static, ominous whirs and clicks, beats that move from skittering pulse to full-on stomp, quiet moments of singing, and tender moaning tones, "Wupp Dek" starts Robag Wruhme's 2011 album with panache and beauty. The continuing evolution of minimal-tinge electronic dance music lying somewhere between head space and dancefloor has a lovely expression here; if the general sound recurs throughout the disc, as on "Bromsen Boff" and "Tulpa Ovi," it's always to wonderful, immediately engaging effect. The general construction of central rhythms and core melodic loops as slightly reserved, elegant composition — sometimes by strings, sometimes by tones, sometimes seemingly just by the sculpting of ambient space — finds itself contrasting against the various found-sound moments that Wruhme compiled and used throughout. The result ranges from big, deep beats on "Pnom Gobal" to the blend of gentle piano and swift pulses on "Prognosen Bomm" The shorter interstitial pieces like "Brucke Vier" and its deep bottomless feeling add even more scope to such a seemingly low-key, personal album, while the snippets of children's voices on the appropriately titled "Ende" at the disc's conclusion add a bright, playful feeling in further and final contrast.