Oslo’s Deathprod, born Helge Sten, will release a new album on Smalltown Supersound.
The first new Deathprod studio project since 2019’s OCCULTING DISK, Compositions is the result of an intense period at Sten’s legendary Audio Virus Lab studio in central Oslo, Norway. All 17 tracks are released in the order in which they were recorded, using a combination of obsolete digital audio processors and sound generators, combined with his own “secret-sauce tuning system,” we’re told.
What we can expect is a deeply atmospheric, grainy minimalism that slows time down and explores the very particles of sound itself. Even the gaps between the tracks are part of that universe. Sten left the almost silent, twitching crackles of his snoozing analogue gear intact, ensuring a smoother transition between them. The music can sound “forbidding and alien at first,” we’re told, but compared to his more brutal output, it’s an “extraordinarily intimate experience,” directing your attention to a succession of ever more spellbinding details and textures.
Ahead of the release, Sten has shared lead single “Composition 1,” which gently submerges listeners in Deathprod’s new soundscape.
Sten, who adopted the Deathprod alias in 1991, is the founder of Norwegian improvising group Supersilent, and has produced records by Motorpsycho, Susanna, Jenny Hval, and Arve Henriksen, among others. He recently composed music for Harry Partch’s legendary instruments, which can be heard on Sow Your Gold in the White Foliated Earth, released last year on Smalltown Supersound.
Tracklisting
01. Composition 1
02. Composition 2
03. Composition 3
04. Composition 4
05. Composition 5
06. Composition 6
07. Composition 7
08. Composition 8
09. Composition 9
10. Composition 10
11. Composition 11
12. Composition 12
13. Composition 13
14. Composition 14
15. Composition 15
16. Composition 16
17. Composition 17
Compositions LP is scheduled for January 27 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Composition 1” in full below and pre-order here.
