(2019) André Bratten - Pax Americana


Review:
While it might’ve made sense to peg André Bratten as a nu-disco producer in 2013, when his first album was issued by Prins Thomas’ Full Pupp label, he quickly moved beyond that sound with his successive releases. Following 2015’s Gode, a much darker full-length which seemed to completely shun any notion of DJ friendliness, rather opting for a more expressive form of doomy downtempo and abstract techno, Bratten moved from the city of Oslo to a suburb, and he completely rebuilt his studio, restructuring all of his analog music equipment. A series of limited 12″ singles appeared, and some of these tracks resurface on Pax Americana. The short album immediately sounds far more club-ready than Gode, but it’s still a far cry from his disco-influenced early material. Instead, the tracks explore a sort of Drexciyan electro that sounds like the perfect soundtrack to cruise around the city in a sleek, futuristic auto late at night. However, while opener “HS” sounds cool and carefree, there’s a much darker, more chilling undertow to tracks like the creeping, ominous “Commonwealth.” “Pax Americana” and “Recreation 26B” both seem to originate from a similar mindset, with lightly skittering yet precise electro beats forging a path through lush, growing synths, as mysterious street sounds and voices are audible deep in the background. Both tracks are soothing as well as touching, and they’re easily the most gorgeous work Bratten has ever produced. Among all this, there’s also “Ranx,” a fun, propulsive track with braindance synth pulsations and explosive, choppy breakbeats. Gode was clearly a bold, daring step into unknown territory for Bratten, and Pax Americana is just as impressive, in addition to being much more accessible.





Tracklist:
01 - HS
02 - Pax Americana
03 - 426
04 - Commonwealth
05 - Ranx
06 - Recreation 26B


Media Report:
Genre: electronic
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits