Robert Merlak - Finomehanika (2020)

The third swim is upon us.

“Delicately assembled combinations of organic and electronic sounds, wherein piano, field recordings and synths are made indistinguishable from one another in a layered motion of abstract ambience and gratifyingly crunchy textures”
- Steph Kretowicz, The Wire

"Finomehanika’s cover art is indicative of the music contained inside. The exposed corrugated steel, peeling paint and futurist structures that interlock hint at a tussle between the familiar and otherworldly, a synthesis of real-world materials and a preternatural focus reserved for the most experimental of compositions."
- Matt Blair, If-Only


Finomehanika is Rijeka-based Robert’s first solo release in two decades since “Albumski” on pioneering avant-garde techno label Phthalo which put him on the map next to fellow artists as diverse as Dntel, Daedelus and James ‘V/Vm’ Kirby.

Musically, the album is a 42-minute machinist journey which makes heavy use of the piano and field recordings for a layer of depth and ambience. It combines the frayed melancholia of Vladislav Delay’s Multila with the strangely real-sounding yet otherworldly mechanics of Autechre during their Confield years. All the while sounds from the natural world prevent us from drifting too far into the abstract, keeping us grounded in a fragmented, confusing but familiar environment. What makes Finomehanika all the more impressive is the fact that it was produced in the early 2000s pre-broadband-Internet, post-war Croatia with sparse equipment.

The album features the artist’s brother Miro, better known for his releases as Qwerty. They also recently collaborated on the 2019 album “Na Vrućem Krovu” by Robert’s art-pop band Marinada.

The sleeve design was commissioned from Michael Tan known for his previous work with artists such as Blanck Mass and Dopplereffekt.