4 out of 5

Label: WéMè Records, Wil-Ru Records

Produced by: Stian Gjevik

A slick dose of sci-fi electro from Stian Gjevik, under his CN pseudonym, ‘The Derelict’ – via album art and name and song titles – tells the tale of alien visitation, but moreso “us” as the aliens, visiting an elsewhere.

The music here has the allure of Gjevik’s mastery of genre: depending on the chosen name he’s using, Stian fully sinks into the style, wearing it like a second skin. As CN, it’s misleadingly seamless, beats and synths flowing together perfectly, while carefully maintaining a heartbeat pulse throughout: it’s a blend that gets you moving and paying attention, but is soothing at the same time; not background music, but also – by design, I’d say – without some more grabbing trait that immediately screams who’s behind the boards. (And that indirectness ends up being that grabbing trait.) Narratively, totally top down, that makes sense: The Derelict’s character is a careful explorer, taking measured steps into exciting unknownness.

Only: the journey is a bit too joyous, if we’re linking it up with that story. This is somewhat of an unfair criticism, since it’s outside the experience of the tunes directly, but I just don’t know if the music syncs with the other things I mentioned: the art, the song names. Initially, they do: The Derelict starts much more in retro territory, with fuzzy synths and ominous, cinematic beats, but mid-album, it transitions to a more comparatively modern, funky sound – rounder bass, brighter melodies. While you could still match this up narratively – initial caution turns into exploratory eagerness – the songs feel more isolated from one another, no longer linked in telling a linear tale. They are great songs! …They just don’t tell a story, to me, and especially don’t map to song titles like ‘Nerves and Distress,’ or ‘Homesick.’

If you’re intent on visualizing the concepts implied by the album’s external components, The Derelict falls apart midway through. But step past that surface level veil, and you get a batch of masterful electro, occasionally fuzzed up and alien; occasionally glowing and silky fun; unshowily showing us how to maximize the listening experience – there’s so much texture here – without blowing the speakers out.