Anders Ilar: Organza
Level Records

The half-hour Organza EP, Swedish artist Anders Ilar's debut 12-inch for Level Records, features four deep tracks that exploit dramatic stylistic and mood shifts at every turn. “Existing in the Dreams of a Flower” is an apt title, given the lulling flow with which Ilar underscores the opening piece. The abrupt chordal shifts and languidly grooving pulse immediately suggest similarities to Oliver Hacke's style, with Ilar's cut gradually broadening out into a silken realm of nuanced dub-house. Track two, “Can't Force a Tree to Brow,” establishes a radical shift in style with a jerky strut subduing the buoyant propulsion of the opener before Ilar arrests it even further by adding a secondary tier of somber string tones over the burbling base. On the second side, he gives the title cut a bouncy club groove but, rather than turning it into a euphoric raver, retains the blue mood by pairing it with a series of melancholy modulations. The 10-minute slow-builder “ Lakeside ” incrementally morphs from an opening of smeary washes into a multi-layered, trance-inflected drift of bubbly beats, cloudy haze, and electro patterns. Organza EP registers as a finely-crafted debut with obvious appeal for Hacke and Lawrence fans.

August 2006