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Abstrakt Lake — Meanderings
(Bandcamp no#, 2025, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-08-18

Meanderings Cover art

It was only about eight months ago that we reviewed the self-titled Abstrakt Lake album. Since that time, there has been a sixteen-minute EP titled The Lapland EP (which was featured on the debut but now complete with additional remixes and alternate versions) and a single track, “God’s Money Box,” all prior to the release of Meanderings at the end of May 2025, and then another two-track EP For Nuns and Clowns, that followed it in July. Seems like it’s been a busy season for Balthazar Klimt and his field recording / sampling / electronica project, and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down anytime soon. Those who enjoyed that first album will be happy to find more of the same in store here, although perhaps a bit thinner on the field recordings and sampled sounds and quite a bit more deep-dive emotional power typified by the long ambient modular synth opening to the lead-off track, “Skafja Loka,” a seven minute piece that eventually finds its way to a drum machine cadence after around three minutes, though from there onward it’s still a mighty wild journey. This time, again, it’s mostly Klimt playing and assembling everything, although he deviates from that on “Psittacalling” where guest cello player Artem Litovchenko shares the spotlight with the electronics, synths, and sampled sounds, making it one of the highlights of the album. “The Old Boilery” is propelled forward by some synthetic percussion elements reminiscent of marimba, but far more expansivel the main melody keeps returning to guide the piece forward. Opening with a mysterious edge, “A Rainy Day in Valmiera” drifts along like a dream, embracing some synthetic choral sounds as it reaches a mid-song climax, stops, then starts back again. Throughout the eight tracks, the listener will find ambient caverns of dark mystery, though they always seem to end up resolving to the patterns of drum machines, like the final track “Sire on the Moor,” but occasionally they juxtapose in different ways, like “Keys of Baba Yaga” where the chattering rhythms never seem to stop. I guess how much a listener will enjoy what’s on offer here depends a lot on their proclivity to programmed rhythms.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Abstrakt Lake (Balthazar Klimt)

More info
http://abstraktlake.bandcamp.com/album/meanderings

 

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