Urner
Afterimages
topo2
With only a handful of releases under its belt, topo2 is still a relatively young label, but Urner’s new Afterimages LP is easily the Amsterdam label’s most playful offering to date. Packed with twinkling tones and gentle melodies, the album recalls antique music boxes, vintage new age records and the 16-bit ambience of ’90s-era video game soundtracks. Gaming—and, more specifically, that realm’s penchant for world-building—has long been a major influence on the New York-based artist’s music, and listening to the pristine chimes of “Stranding” and the pastel drift of “Irisdescens,” one can comfortably imagine themselves trekking through a forest or hunting for crystals during the more serene portions of an old RPG.
The zoned-out opener “Options, Thoughts”—a song which attempts to connect the dots between Future’s Auto-Tuned escapism and the lush soundscapes of Harold Budd—is a clear highlight, but Afterimages does have its more rambunctious moments. The scattershot, IDM-ish rhythms of “Anni,” for instance, arrive in off-kilter, rapid-fire bursts, while the plucked melodies of “Tides,” elegant as they are, also sound like they’re being played by a couple of kids going wild on a floor-model harp while their parents aren’t looking. That’s the thing about Urner; even his most chaotic impulses tend to unfold with all the ferocity of a naughty puppy. That’s not a bad thing, and during an era where the world seems to be increasingly defined by creeping darkness and casual cruelty, there’s something refreshing about an album that’s been infused with a persistent feeling of warmth and wonder.