Sofie Birch & Johan Carøe - Repair Techniques (2021)

More stunning material from Stroomy, this time from Danish duo Sofie Birch and Johan Carøe who use analog synths, clarinet, pump organ, cello and vocals to flesh out their low-key new age vignettes. It's gorgeous, next-level material that takes the influence of Japanese new age music, Visible Cloaks and early Oneohtrix Point Never and shuttles it into a breathy, humid climate.

The original recordings for 'Repair Techniques' were made while Birch and Carøe were stationed at home in their Copenhagen studio using a Roland Juno-60, Moog Sub 37 and a Roland XP 30 to build up 11 tracks, which they later augmented with acoustic instrumentation while in residency at Andersabo in Sweden last summer. The result is a pitch-perfect combo of minimalist nu-age synthwork and subtle Northern European folk that tickles the senses like a feather to the brain.

The tracks are so perfectly formed because they're so perfectly restrained; Birch and Carøe refuse to fill their compositions with needless layers and elements, instead worming around memorable synth lines that do just enough to remind us of Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre or Hiroshi Yoshimura, while vocals and brushed folk instruments poke in as secondary elements.

There's a soundtrack-y quality to "Repair Techniques" but not in a hackneyed, manipulative way, instead evoking moods and visuals like little else we've heard in a while - a Stroom special basically.