Sounds Beyond.

Robag Wruhme | ‘Thora Vukk’

In a world where album culture is largely eschewed in favor of the mix (and its building block—the 12” record), it’s rare to find releases where a start-to-finish listen is more satisfying than cherry-picking individual tracks. So it is that we find the second solo album from Robag Wruhme, formerly of the Wighnomy Brothers (purveyors of mix culture if ever there were), is not only astoundingly beautiful, but so conceptually cohesive as to warrant nothing less than a complete listen, every time.

Concept albums are rare, indeed, but in electronic music, to find even one in a single year is terribly uncommon. In fact, it would be fair to guess here that a concept wasn’t intended, but even at first listen, it is difficult to ignore the deeply personal dialogue between a man and his art happening throughout. The instrumentation is firmly bound in the tangible, rather than in the synthetic, giving everything a human feel; an exceptional feat given typical genre constraints. Better yet, Robag himself peppers his productions with found sounds and filtered vocals, as in the opening track, “Wupp Deck”, where he neatly blends his own voice into sustained piano chords. However, the album is not without some synthetic counterparts—the danceable banger “Bommsen Böff” being a prime example—but even this sonic detour is agreeably brief.

Thematically the album is beautifully consistent, and as a listening experience, feels like being led toward something truly special. This is a journey into a musician’s very private world, and in case that detail becomes lost on you, Robag is quick to issue reminders throughout, in the guise of the interspersed “Brücke Eins” through “Brücke Funf”. In these numbered “bridge” pieces, consisting solely of short elemental bursts—a brief view into his process—we find a fitting transition from one longer composition to the next. And as we delve further into this world, so does the centerpiece of the album entire slowly come into view. Starting with “Pnom Gobal” and concluding with the final track, the themes begin to repeat, becoming intertwined, elemental pieces to be arranged, and rearranged, culminating in the very heartfelt “Ende”.

As a complete listening experience, this is an album that will draw you in again and again. Its personality is one of being very personal, so much so that the draw isn’t just good music, but outright exposure of humanness. To Robag, it is clear that electronic music is played, and it is in that playing of music—rather than solely production or banging it out—that something universal springs. This is music one can touch, music one can feel, music one teaches and shares with others as it is quite real, and not a passing fad. To say that this is one of the best albums to come out this year so far would be an understatement; this one contends for at least the remainder of this decade.

You can listen to a stream of the entire album at the Pampa Records Soundcloud page, here.