The second album from the duo of Thomas Strønen and Ståle Storløkken sees them continue the good work they started on their debut album. This cheery album is one of the better things that either of them have been involved in, a collection of music far from the chaos of Supersilent and yet more active and organic than most Norwegian electronic music.
Rune Grammofon
While I enjoyed Strønen's recent solo outing, I found it too skeletal at times and the presence of Supersilent’s Storløkken on Hornswoggle adds the much needed flesh to the bare bones. Humcrush are fairly lighthearted in comparison to most of the Rune Grammofon artists (this is not a slur on those artists!), barring a couple of exceptions the pieces on Hornswoggle are fun, both artists sounding like they are having a great time making this music. The title track in particular is buoyant and exciting, the precise and powerful percussion floating in a sea of warm electronics.
The more serious parts of the album are filled with Strønen's signature percussion style. "Anamorphic Images" is centered on his jerky and resonant percussion while Storløkken steps back and only adds small details to the piece. The sparseness of this piece allows the unusual sounds of Strønen's beats to become more defined but without sounding solitary and lost like they sometimes do when he is performing on his own. However, the album sometimes feels a little too formulaic with Strønen only repeating rhythms and Storløkken playing around them. Luckily towards the end of the album they break up their playing, challenging themselves to approach the music in different ways. For example, "Knucker" is a fantastic play off between the pair with Strønen playing some very nice jazz fills and Storløkken getting hyperactive on his keyboards. The following track, "Roo," is in complete contrast to the rest of the album with the drumming taking the backseat and the electronics leading the piece.
As a duo they both compliment and bring out more from each other. I am surprised the album is so enjoyable because Supersilent are a group that I find difficult to listen to; I was expecting Storløkken's presence to be a problem for me. Thankfully this is not the case, Hornswoggle is extremely satisfying to listen to. The duo has done a superb job that is better than the work of theirs that I have encountered outside of Humcrush.
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