Nervu is a new label out of Portugal set to explore the “dark corners of electronic music” with strange and cosmic offerings. First up is a split cassette called Atonia featuring the work of Sturqen and vÄäristymä. Sturqen is a duo based out of Porto, Portugal featuring the sound artists David Arantes and César Rodrigues. Active since 2008, the pair has a number of albums out on labels like Kvitnu and Metaphysik, to name a few. VÄäristymä, also a duo, is comprised of the Finnish brothers Janne Liimatainen and Jarko Hedenius. Beginning their sound based work on computers in the early 90’s, the duo soon turned to an analog set-up and since 2011 their extensive discography has been released on labels like Eighth Tower Records, Unexplained Sounds Group, and From A Tree.
Plenty of strange tonal aberrations to bask in on this nearly hour-long cassette. Sturqen delivers “Metrologia” as a long-form track in two parts. Cosmic bass drone opens darkly cinematic realms of sound as the duo follows a dream-like drift logic thru echoing washes of tone and disembodied melody. While at times subtle pulses of rhythm do ripple thru here, these tracks are prone to floating– more than propulsive action. vÄäristymä continues that mood with droning bass tones that are felt as much as they are heard. At times drifting, on tracks like “Vieras” and “Äyriäissumu”, the Finnish duo disturb that mood with brief blasts of clipped sound–giving the sense that the audio is dropping out–while “Muovaama” adds a softly percolating rhythmic flow to the ambiance. Often hanging on the edge of the “hearable” across their five tracks, vÄäristymä crafts a subtle and shadowy listening experience.
