I’ve been a fan of Troels Abrahamsen for quite a while. I’m impressed by his output with fellow electrorockers in VETO and excited about his electronica solo career under the monikers I Know That You Know, Mockin’ Bird and SuperTroels. This third solo release, the first under his real name, does nothing to change that. In fact, it reinforces my belief that Mr. Abrahamsen is one of the most interesting musical minds in Denmark right now.

With a newfound confidence, hence the no alias, he has changed his way of working, moving away from the, simply put, electronica premise of “first a great beat, then a song” to writing songs on piano and then add the great beats. Another change is the use of real bass, drums and strings etc, which make ‘WHT’ (“White”) a brilliantly elegant fusion of organic feel and electronic precision – and his best solo release yet.

Defining moments are ‘When You’re Ready, Let Go’, based on a Stravinsky string-sample and in the player below, funky ‘Worksong’ plus ‘Switch It Off’ and ‘Nothing Comes To Those Who Wait’, both melancholic electro-balladry at its finest. Other standout tracks are house-spiritual ‘Shine Your Light’, ‘End Scene’ – that’ll bring both a tear to your eye and make you jump and dance – and the surprisingly haunting ‘Wrong Gods’ which is no more (or less) than a simple chord progression, sounding like it’s done by strumming the strings of a grand piano.

While working on ‘WHT’ Troels Abrahamsen – the productive bugger he is – ended up with loads of material inspired by his work with and live appearances on the club scene that, according to himself, really don’t fit with the material here. Instead he plans to release three EP’s titled BLCK pt. I, II and III (yes, you guessed it: “Black”) in the fall, and I’ll risk pretty much nothing and proclaim them something to look forward to.

Genre: Electronica
Who: Troels Abrahamsen
Album: WHT
Label: Blck/Sony Music
Year: 2009
Country: Denmark
Language: English
DOWNLOAD VIA

Recommended tracks:
Work Song – End Scene – Switch It Off – When You’re Ready, Let Go – Shine Your Light – Wrong Gods – Nothing Comes To Those Who Wait