LOUFR - Isolated Point (2022)

isolated point is the second album by Piotr Bednarczyk under his LOUFR moniker and one of the inaugural releases on Digital in Berlin. Drawing on elements from club music, IDM, and noise as well as vocal manipulation, Bednarczyk injects everything that feels safe and homely with an eerie atmosphere. It’s an ambiguous album—a product and an expression of the process of confronting thought as sound.

If the music of Piotr Bednarczyk seems uncanny, that is only because it hits too close to home. Under his LOUFR moniker, the Polish composer works inside but thinks outside the box, using digital means to transform personal thoughts into concrete sounds and rhythms that are reflected back to the listeners in the shape of abstract compositions.

After his first album already drew on experimental club music, IDM techniques and a healthy dose of noise, his sophomore full-length for the newly launched Digital in Berlin label takes this process even further. The nine tracks on isolated point are as forceful and tangible as they are tender and evocative, creating an emotional ambiguity that leaves them open to interpretation.

This ambiguity is deeply rooted in Bednarczyk’s working process, during which he uses acoustic sounds such as those of string instruments as well as the human voice as the starting point for rigorous abstractions and subtle acts of deconstruction. This includes using lyrics for the heavily manipulated vocals that at first seem unintelligible—though on a hyperballad like “Flowers”, they reveal their meaning with further listens.

The same can be said about his use of rhythm and dynamics which are heavily inspired by the physicality and suggestiveness of club music. Tracks like “Perfect Creature”, “Future”, or “Gone?”, however, let established formulas mutate beyond the point of recognition. These are tracks that can hardly be danced to, yet that is precisely why they are so moving.