Swedish producer Ivan Berggren, aka Paresse, returns to Eskimo Recordings with the 'Animachine' EP, 4 brand new tracks of beautiful electronica that joins the dots between the cosmic disco of his fellow Scandinavian producers, the early Trance sound of Frankfurt labels like Eye Q and the even earlier machine music of bands like Kraftwerk.
It is the latter band whose philosophical fingerprints, at least, are most visibly present on this new EP that was inspired by Berggren's wrestling with the age-old question of just what we are, simply biological machines running on electrical impulses and chemical reactions, or vessels filled with some ineffable spirit.
What that translates to in the recording studio is four stunning new tracks that kicks off with Where East Meets West, its pulsating synth arpeggios and relentless beat, accompanied by stirring Vangelis like melodies that rise and fall as rave stabs and echoes of lost voices create an air of faded grandeur. Upping the tempo the EP's second track, Meat Robots, an underground house number whose acid bass lines and ricocheting percussion, will have even assembly line robots jacking as it builds to a hypnotic conclusion.
If that's helped you build up a very un-robot like sweat then the glacial Journey of the Heart slows things right down, taking us deeper into ambient house territory, its chugging beat, pulsing synths and piano chords sparkling like the first frost catching the sun. Concluding the EP we have Anima, a stately 100bpm coda to the EP filled with disorientating overdriven synths that spiral in and out as the track marches on in robotic lockstep, a heady combination of early Trance, ambient and Italo sounds, perfect to crash out on a bean bag to in the back room of a club and debate the nature of humanity to with a perfect stranger.
With releases on labels like Eskimo, Frau Blau and Correspondant, and collaborations with artists such as Titiyo, Paresse's small but perfectly formed discography that's draw upon the sounds of electronica, dub, Italo disco its easy toes why his records have found favour with DJs from across the musical spectrum from Yuksek and Jamie Jones to The Organism and Phillipi & Rodrigo onto the likes of Purple Disco Machine and Ewan Pearson.