Rune Bagge - Grab A Star

Album

14 Mar

The icy sonics of Anthony Linell's Northern Electronics returns in 2023. Like most Northern Electronic releases, Rune Bagge's Grab A Star feels as cold and isolating as we'd expect a tundra-ridden Scandinavia to be. Rune Bagge uses a combination of effects and the formation of space between frequencies to create a mood throughout the album. The reverbs, for one, are vast and ever-present. Rune Bagge chooses mammoth reverbs that warble subtly, creating unease in a vast expanse. The frosty chill around the album comes from the crisp, airy reverb that simulates the air freezing around the listener. With each note, each swell of the effect creates the sense of mist rising off a frozen lake as the sun rises. That frosty air drifts away like the tails of each note. Rune Bagge crafts an ethereal breakbeat epic in Grab A Star.

Rune Bagge's third outing on the Northern Electronic imprint continues to showcase a more subdued yet fantastical side of their production. While keeping the crushing bass weight beneath each kickdrum, the Copenhagen-based artist uses the kick in a far more exciting way in this album. Rune Bagge uses kicks like a rhythmic jackhammer from the off, powerful and fast, with tracks 'Allimac' and 'Fade Away (Touch The Sky)’. They kick slam in syncopated rhythms designed to contrast the delicate piano melodies that are present throughout. The melodies range from beautiful falsetto notes floating around the intense backdrop in the track 'Damaged' to the unsteady arpeggios of 'Your Time Is Now' acting as the ground wire for the rest of the track.

The album begins chilled, with Rune Bagge using 'Allimac' to open, a halftime rendition of what's to come. 'Allimac' introduces the jackhammer kick motif that will continue throughout, each kick sharing a similar in-your-face intensity. Bagge allows a rolling bassline to propel the track forward, using percussion to accent the kick pattern. The piano motif glistens away over the whole song. Bagge uses reverse notes and constantly shifting effects to play with space and texture. The piano motif flows into the next track, 'Damaged', immediately as Rune Bagge recontextualises motif and track elements. This time, the piano lines are much cleaner, devoid of reverse notes and other sonic tricks in favour of allowing the track's rhythms to shine. Likewise, the percussion differs and is more trap-like as Bagge uses hi-hat rolls together with a steady clap, making 'Damaged' more danceable. The bassline and kicks in 'Damaged' swap prominence, with the kick providing most of the drive. A techno rumble is added to the kick that eats up most of the bass frequencies aside from key moments where Bagge uses pitch bend to accent specific notes in the melodies. The end of 'Damaged' uses a long reverb tail of the piano to end the track, which slams straight into the first high-intensity kick of 'Fade Away (Touch The Sky)'. the third track on the album, 'Fade Away (Touch The Sky)' raises the intensity yet again. The frantic percussion now matches the force and relentless wild kicks that seem to convulse. The percussion swarms around the track, and aggressive whip-like snare snaps ground the chaos in time. The piano melodies from before are abstracted into long sustained pad sounds that share the effect processing as before, keeping the mood cold and distant yet frenzied. Bagge allows a rolling bass to carry the track as they mirror the notes played by the ghostly pads. Bagge uses vocal samples, having them play out muted messages drenched in delay, which is feedback to such a degree Bagge can create textures out of the ensuing sounds.

Rune Bagge builds tension and intensity across the first half of the album but brings everything back down to earth with and beatless ambience piece midway, 'Roche (Grab A Star)', which becomes the most visceral track on the album. Rune Bagge uses piano arpeggios and crushing textures to create ever-increasing tension here. The dark atmospheric textures envelop the low end, plunging the track into despair. The piano melodies start quiet and increase the intensity, layering elements new on top which perpetuates a subtle feeling of uncomfortableness and melancholy. Moving into the track 'Nightlights', the feelings of uncomfortableness and melancholy persist. The chords in 'Nightlights' never seem to resolve, maintaining the tension and giving no rest bite. Bagge adds glimpses of rave into 'Nightlights' utilising triplet synth stabs throughout. The stabs combined with the lead melody that fluctuates musically give a neon-soaked feeling, shifting the sentiment from the icy one we hear at the record beginning to a more cosmic one. Rune Bagge closes with 'Your Time Is Now', which returns to the piano arpeggios heard in 'Roche (Grab A Star)' but matches the intensity of 'Damaged'. The piano is warbly and unstable, lending to the melancholic progression. We're also treated to the most prevalent bass rollers on the record as it drives the track forward, accented by a wash of syncopated percussion. 'Your Time Is Now' boasts the most diverse percussion on the album as it pops, snaps and fizzes over the track. Overall Grab A Star highlights Rune Bagge's multiple-faceted music, and the icy piano motif used throughout finds a home in this blend of techno and breakbeat.

Tracklist: