Janus Rasmussen

From his work in electronic pop quartet Bloodgroup, to his output as one-half of Faroese-Icelandic duo Kiasmos, alongside Ólafur Arnalds, Janus Rasmussen knows a thing or two about crafting nuance and restraint.

Released via Christian Löffler's Ki Records, Rasmussen’s solo debut album, Wine, marks a new leap into uncharted territory. It’s a record that finds the producer delving deep to reveal the full scope of his talents. “I often work really quickly and I tend to be drawn to really strange ideas. I’ve this kind of obsession of finding something that really should not work and make it work. It’s very satisfying.”

As a whole, Wine is a solo debut that certainly “works”. Recorded in his Reykjavik studio, it’s full testament to Rasmussen following his creative instincts in order to make a record that luminously explores new soundworlds within the realm of experimental minimal techno. Whether you look to the balmy downtempo groove of ‘Blue Wine’, (what song title has this been replaced by?) the understated bliss of ‘Purple Wine’ (what song title has this been replaced by?) or the insistent rhythms that make ‘Black Wine’ (is this called December now?) a fitting curtain call, Wine has a range that peaks and lulls in all the right places.

Rasmussen began writing the majority of Wine in early 2018, though some of it (including lead single ‘Green Wine’) goes further back. It wasn’t until he played some of the tracks during his globe-spanning DJ sets that Rasmussen knew it was time to record. “I had been playing a lot of these songs, and they were working really well,” he says. “I didn’t really tell anyone what the songs were, but they were obviously really fitting into the sets, as they’re not too far off from the Kiasmos sound, despite being different. I had never done that before: playing unfinished tracks and just seeing the reaction. It was super fun, actually. You learn a lot about your own music when you do that.”

If you have seen Kiasmos live - especially late at night - you will know exactly what Rasmussen lends to the experience: deft, mid-tempo rhythms, and textured suites of nocturnal synth and ambience. Wine takes that intoxicating foundation, sidesteps the more classically-informed input of Arnalds and goes one further. “It’s somewhat similar, just because I’m in Kiasmos, obviously,” he says. “It’s a sound that I know and associate myself with. But on this album, I don’t need everything to be really pretty. These songs are more raw sounding, and that’s something I really wanted for myself.”

A quick glance at the tracklist of Wine reveals a certain trend: bar a couple of exceptions, each track is titled after a colour, number, or month of the year. “When I was composing each track I started thinking, “This song sounds like this colour” and “this song really sounds like that colour.”